Ryan Anderson is Vice President of Global Research and Insights at MillerKnoll leading research and providing workplace strategy and application design advisory services. He also hosts MillerKnoll’s “About Place” podcast. With much experience at the intersection of workplace research, innovation, and technology, Ryan discusses evolving working needs un/tethered by technology. He explains how urban landscaping concepts support human-centric office-based design. Ryan recommends incremental office improvements to match evolving work needs and change management to support any facility update.
TAKEAWAYS
[02:19] A random decision to study marketing, however Ryan finds he loves the audience focus.
[03:55] In furniture product development, Ryan finds the commercialization process tough, but learns a lot.
[04:24] Ryan is drawn to the conceptual phases, empathizing to understand unmet needs.
[06:07] How West Michigan has a concentration of workplace design companies.
[06:54] Ryan grew up thinking furniture was boring but learns how much more there is to it.
[08:35] In Chicago, Ryan meets his wife and studies purpose-driven business and ethics-based leadership.
[10:27] Ryan transitions to a corporate/design role as technology integration changes work settings.
[11:19] Commercial interior design and Ryan respond to employees’ new technology setups.
[13:14] A history lover, Ryan describes key design people and an office landscape movement.
[13:37] The fascinating use of urban planning principles for office landscaping.
[14:30] Desk-based workers’ needs drive workspace planning and fuel industry growth.
[15:00] The original goal of the cubicle—to provide workplace variety!
[16:08] Workspaces need to evolve to keep in tempo with work.
[17:07] Tech trends dictated earlier workplace constraints and are now releasing us from them.
[18:36] Understanding evergreen needs while envisioning and maturing ideas through experimentation.
[20:00] Ryan moves company to align with designing for the tech user not the technology.
[21:42] Mid-2010’s, The Living Office anticipates and amplifies the consumerization of technology.
[22:52] Partnering with big tech companies to revisit office landscaping for the modern era.
[23:40] Exploring ‘prop tech’ – the technological evolution of the building – smart buildings.
[24:30] Sensors and other tech enhancements start to personalize office experiences.
[25:00] The SaaS business model interest Ryan who joins a fast-growing prop tech venture.
[26:18] Ryan shifts focus to changing digitized work experiences rather than tech integration.
[26:59] The workplace ‘product’ must support diverse teams’ evolving digitalized work needs.
[31:08] Douglas McGregor’s framework of Theory X and Theory Y management.
[32:45] With distributed work, designing spaces to supervise work is unrealistic.
[33:58] Community building and urban planning are enabling an ecosystem of people.
[34:51] Optimizing for office-based work activities, such as for longer form collaboration.
[35:53] What do offices best provide – structured collaboration and focused concentration?
[37:03] Understand teams operating in a facility to address their changing activities and needs.
[38:25] Not many organizations are supporting their employees’ home working settings yet.
[39:51] The prospect of major projects and expensive capital are stalling renovation plans.
[42:03] Service As A Space concepts also involve investing in space that evolves over time.
[43:55] AI has the potential to create safer, healthier, smarter buildings.
[44:56] The possibilities of AI tools to augment the design process.
[48:28] Work is best determined by a social contract that’s beneficial not location-based or too restrictive.
[49:52] Ryan shares how his team updates their team working agreement protocols.
[50:49] Rewind assumptions to consider old and new ideas to support teams’ needs.
[51:10] Neighborhood-based planning allows connectedness, attachment, and scalability.
[54:18] New office landscaping uses neighborhoods similarly to 15-minute cities.
[55:00] Why strong and weak ties matter.
[50:49] IMMEDIATE ACTION TIP: Real estate strategies follow talent—so develop incremental office improvements that purposefully encourage connection and interaction. Create in-office neighborhoods to support teams’ sense of community and belonging with flexibility for regular updates responding to evolving work needs.
RESOURCES
Ryan Anderson on LinkedIn
MillerKnoll’s website
MillerKnoll on Instagram
HermanMiller on Instagram
Knoll on Instagram
HMInsightGroup on X
MillerKnoll on X
Douglas McGregor’s framework of Theory X and Theory Y
QUOTES (edited)
“We're all looking at what is the post desktop, post cubicle era of working looks like.”
“You design for the technology user, not the technology. You have to understand the patterns of behavior, even though the tool sets evolve.”
“Recognizing that our work experiences are increasingly becoming digitized and virtual, the work is becoming digital, but that we're physical beings and physical spaces. We need to figure out how to allow people to exist in these physical spaces and use those tech tools in a really healthy, fun, productive way.”
“Facility managers and corporate real estate leaders are product owners that own the product—the workplace. The focus is on helping them better understand their teams, the diverse nature of those teams, the evolving nature of the work, and trying to conceptualize a space that gets better over time.”
“Regardless of your inherent perspectives on management, the thought of using a space to supervise work in an era of digitized distributed work is extremely unrealistic.”
“What can this space do to help our employees to collaborate in new ways, offer them experiences they can't have at home. That is a healthy and better approach. It's just complicated. It's more complicated than saying, well line 'em up in rows so that I can watch them effectively.”
“It’s urban planning. We’re taking these principles, we’re bringing them inside the building. We’re enabling an ecosystem of people.”
“Any facilities project is a change management project, and any real estate strategy has to follow talent.”
