Heads Up for HR

Rajat Paharia's post The Wizard of Oz points to a variety of articles about the collaborative works of Applied Minds and Herman Miller. Their lastest design release is called the Babble and it is to be used in open spaces to distort sound and allow for privacy.

This device and the technology should be considered by HR during the facilities design phase (for open space environments) when the "policy" questions are being asked: Who gets an office and why? Where will performance conversations be conducted? Where will sensitive strategy sessions be conducted?

What is even more interesting to me than the technology is the picture that Rajat points us to. What do you think the average age is and what are the implications of that for the future of technology, design and work? (We might also notice the gender and race of the group too.) Maybe Rajat can get us started with his initial thoughts?