Sunday, April 30, 2006

A New Employee? Wheel Him In!

It is truly a mobile world, especially at Exemplar. We have a beautiful office in downtown Boston with roughly 4,200 square feet (in true capacity-first style). There is a big open space in the center and windowed offices on three sides of the building. What is different about us is that we work in project teams and have 3-4 people in each office. . . . with desks on wheels! We all work on laptop computers, on desks with wheels, with file cabines on wheels, and when you move into an office to work on a project team you just log into your phone and your extension rings wherever you are. We have a new team member starting tomorrow. He is from China and comes with a career in marketing and business development in China. He will be working with our Chief Marketing Officer to help create a strategic marketing plan for approaching the China market. Do we put him in the office with our attorney who handles China matters or in the CMO & Business Development pod? When our people are together in offices communication improves, relationships develop. and innovation is a natural product of the sharing of ideas that we see on a regular basis. What's more, not only are our poeple happy in this team-based environment, but our cost structure is one-third of a firm that isolates its people in big offices all alone. Our happy people not only provide great service, but the cost-structure savings is definately something that our customers can take to the bank. That is the type of win-win situation we look for when we evaluate how to improve the way we work.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

So your blog no longer reads like a management book. I thank you for taking our opinions into account, however, now your posts are rather boring. I work here and know for a fact that desks on wheels and 3 men to a pod is much more exciting than you make it sound. Ok, you mentioned improved communication, but forgot about what fun we have and how comfortable we are with each other. You also forgot to mention the problems with our set up. For example, Adam is always hot and opens the window and i am always cold and want to hurt him for opening the window:) What about your concerns about our pod arrangement? Give your readers something to comment on.

Christopher Marston said...

Dear Secret Amicus,

Thanks for the typo catch. My english teacher died years ago, so I could really use a replacement.

Christopher Marston said...

Hi Lauren,

You are right, it is fun and problematic all at once. We have this intern who is a nice guy, but he simply doesn's know when to stop talking. . . so much so that we put him in his own office just so we can get work done! :-) Is there medication for that? The funny thing is, if he can play as good a game as he talks, we'll all be rich in no time!

Anonymous said...

To all those asking for bios and backgrounds, stay tuned! We're in the process of updating our website, so please bookmark us and check back often. We'll also provide more updates on the innerworkings of the business model, as we hope you're rooting for our success as much as we are.

Anonymous said...

Do you have more information about your practice areas and capabilities? I hope you can appreciate the difficulty prospective clients, like us, may have in shopping around and selecting a law firm to work with on projects.

Sucima Terces

Christopher Marston said...

Hi Sucima,

We are constantly adding more information on success stories, capabilities, and expertise in the various practice areas. Thanks for your patience and feedback. It is your helpful feedback that helps us to provide you with the information you are looking for in a service provider! Our current strengths and expertise includes Commercial Real Estate, Transactional Corporate, Patent, and Entertainment Law, among a couple of others. If you have specific questions about our expertise in a practice areas, please email or call me (or us) and we would be happy to provide you with that information. Stay tuned for more.

Cheers,

Christopher Marston, Esq.
cmarston@exemplarlaw.com