The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]


Do You Know Your Neighbours …
February 22, 2012, 6:08 am
Filed under: Comment

I am passionately against sitting in departments.

I absolutely loathe planners sitting together … creatives sitting together … suits sitting together … etc etc.

I accept there are positives that come from it, but I believe there are even more positives not doing it.

From a planners perspective … it means you can’t fall into some pseudo-intellectual bullshit bubble … it means you stay connected to what is actually going on with the clients and the agency … it means you can contribute to conversations in real-time … it means you can hear – learn – different views and perspectives and, possibly most importantly, it means you can start forming deeper relationships with the people who ultimately can make your life a breeze or utter, fucking, hell.

Now I appreciate if you work in a company that departmentalises their office space, there’s not much you can do about it however if that’s the case – and even if it’s not – one thing you might be able to pull off is a ‘random desk swap’.

We’ve done it here a few times … where for one week, every planner swaps seats with another planner in the office for a day.

Every day, a new desk.

Every day, a new view.

Every day, a new set of colleagues.

Every day, a new set of conversations.

Of course, everyone else in the agency either [1] thinks you’re a fucking nutcase or [2] complains they can’t find you … but for such a simple exercise, you get quite a bit our of it.

You get to know more of your colleagues.

You get to know more of your colleagues a bit better.

You get to have brand new conversations about brand new things.

You get to hear some fresh thinking and some new viewpoints.

You get to see how the office works from different perspectives.

You get to be a sad bastard by realising you miss your old desk … old seat … and old colleagues.

We all get connected to certain things in our office … little memento’s that turn a desk into a sort of 2nd home [which is bloody scary if you think about it] … however doing something new, even if it’s just for a week, isn’t going to kill you and you might just find that you’re better off for the experience.

Unless you end up sat next to Ryan in our office. He’s a fucking nightmare.


51 Comments so far
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Good to have you back Rob, especially after a few days of extremely (by your recent standards) “light” posts.

I’ve always liked open plan office structures, not open plan with cubicles, for the reason you explain here, you get to know and work with more of your colleagues. I had an old boss that once asked me how many people I knew in the company and was shocked when I said all of them. He knew about 10 but he was that sort of person and most likely only knew 10 when he was at school as well.

The problem with work seating is you quickly form little cliques. At school you moved around in different classes which is why I think your “desk swap” is such a sweet idea though sitting next to that Ryan guy sounds very similar to sitting next to you.

Comment by Pete

fuck me. if pete says theres 2 campbells in the fucking world its the end of fucking days. end of fucking w+k at least.

Comment by andy@cynic

It is disturbing.

Comment by Pete

The best bit about this post is that Ryan video.
The worst thing is he sounds almost identical to you. But with Bazza’s height issues.

Comment by Billy Whizz

he cant wear birkenstocks and like queen.

one campbell hired by w+k is a mistake. two would be fucking insanity.

Comment by andy@cynic

Watch the video. He wear sandals. Fucking sandals. No queen mention but that’s bad enough isn’t it?

Comment by Billy Whizz

its a blight on fucking humanity.

Comment by andy@cynic

And Ryan likes buying electronic wankery. But don’t worry, being compared to me is as insulting to him as it is disturbing to you.

And me.

Comment by Rob

Do they collaborate in pincer movement on the NIke cars project?
I’m not going there on hookers

Comment by northern

Your random desk swap sounds like corporate russian roulette and sitting next to you is the bullet.

Comment by Billy Whizz

good quality insulting from the off billy. youve been practicing. good fucking work.

Comment by andy@cynic

Been reading some of your comments in my old reviews. Helped hone my skills.

Comment by Billy Whizz

beautiful

Comment by toto

you think we dont know the reason you like desk swapping is so no fucker gets to sit with you long enough and work out youre doing no fucking work.

you think that “strategy” works.

fuckwit fool.

Comment by andy@cynic

and you only like desk swapping to get more dirt and gossip on your colleagues to fucking blackmail them with later. the news of the fucking world might not be published anymore but it still fucking lives on through you campbell. bastard.

Comment by andy@cynic

He was the limey edition of us weekly and national enquirer.

Comment by Billy Whizz

As his best friends brother found out.

Comment by DH

how the fuck do you remember shit like that?

Comment by andy@cynic

elephant man 2.0.

Comment by andy@cynic

I inherited the brains and the looks.

Comment by DH

Sorry, but that was still an awesome find. It was my version of Watergate and I don’t care what any of you say. Besides, I seem to remember you all being very fucking intrigued in the story when I told you for the first time. You can piss on my parade for many things, but not on my Watergate moment.

Comment by Rob

to be fair to you campbell, that is the only story if yours that held my interest over your normal 1.2 fucking seconds.

Comment by andy@cynic

and good to see youve decided to write a proper post i can slag off compared to those pamphlet bollocks of the last few days. dont read the long shit you write either, just makes me happier to know you put more time into something we all can ignore and take the piss out of.

Comment by andy@cynic

It’s an early birthday, birth an Christmas present.

Comment by Rob

there better be a big fucking cheque attached because a post on this bollocks blog is worth less than the greek fucking economy.

Comment by andy@cynic

You may rotate the planners around the office, but it seems they swap with each other. That means the rest of the office will all be able to identify the planner desks and behave accordingly.

Comment by John

“doing something new, even if it’s just for a week, isn’t going to kill you and you might just find that you’re better off for the experience.”

So you’ll be wearing proper footwear this week?

Comment by John

On the footwear side, I recommend Sanuk – really love their flip flops. My last pair lasted 9 months of traveling around Asia and I just received my new pair. very exciting. I hear Rob swears by Birkenstocks, haven’t really tried them yet, hadn’t found my size in shops while in London.

Comment by Willem van der Horst (@Hippowill)

I swear by Birkenstocks … everyone else seems to swear at them, but christ, how big are your feet if you can’t find a pair big enough!???

Comment by Rob

Size 12 minimum. I order my flip flops online, I rarely find the ones I want in the size I want on the high street

Comment by Willem van der Horst (@Hippowill)

is this some “my cock is fucking huge” comment?

well bad fucking luck because campbells best mates dick is like a fucking horses apparently.

Comment by andy@cynic

The idea of switching desks all the time sounded great when I tried while at, though I then realised I’d sooner screw off to work on a couch somewhere or I’d prefer having my own desk space wherever it was, as long as it didn’t change all the time. Of course now, that’s exacly what I’m doing though not switching departments but to any free wifi enabled location, which is also pretty cool.

I also really want to meet Ryan now, he sounds amazing.

Comment by Willem van der Horst (@Hippowill)

Are you fucking Dutch?

cool..

Klootzak..

Comment by niko

My father’s fucking Dutch, I just have a fucking Dutch name.

Comment by Willem van der Horst (@Hippowill)

not enough dutch on here.. bout fucking time..

Comment by niko

I am passionately against sitting in advertising agencies.

Comment by John

That’s probably the best piece of advice that’s ever appeared on here John.

Comment by Rob

I’m all for hot desking. I sit opposite my boss and my PC is directly in front of the Chief Exec.
Not only can I not get away with anything, it makes me wonder what they already knew that prompted the move.
Thank God for working from home (although I can’t dried baby sick out of my laptop keyboard)

Comment by northern

Maybe they read this blog and saw how you used to watch Youporn in client meetings? Just saying …

Comment by Rob

Used to?

Comment by John

Good point. He “used to” do it more blatantly.

Comment by Rob

From my tweetstream

“Sloppy practices” blamed as YouPorn “exposes user details”

Comment by John

They wouldn’t have rumbled the Youporn from this blog, being caught reading it is far more serious a offence than Youporn

Anyway, I suspect their real motives are decent tea and coffee

Comment by northern

So you’re a lacky? Is that what you’re saying it?

Or is it just a corporate toady?

Comment by Rob

A little tea goes a long way.
And that kind of accusation is a possiby a little perverse coming from Mr W+K are fantastic in every third post

Comment by northern

I only say that because I don’t know how to make tea to Northern standards.

Comment by Rob

Doesn’t Dan like coffee?

Comment by northern

I prefer department groups to client groups, but it’s good to have a mix.
I like being around creatives, always reminds you to think of strategy that also makes better work.

Comment by Rob Mortimer

what the fuck do you mean it reminds you to think of strategy that also makes better work. its not fucking mutually exclusive, if it doesnt do that it doesnt fucking matter how fucking intellectually fucking wankfestival it is. dont tell me youre becoming one of “those” planners.

Comment by andy@cynic

Hah. That was kind of my point! Being near them keeps you sharper on it, and makes sure you don’t slip into ‘that’ kind of planning. (Which i imagine can happen if you never actually get to spend time with the creatives – a leading cause of wanky planning I hazard)

Comment by Rob Mortimer

saved. by the skin of your fucking teeth.

Comment by andy@cynic




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