We're Movin' on Up
By David Fishman

We have an office in New York City, and an office in Denver.  The coffee pot is still in Denver, while we’ve got two toasters in New York.  Some things the Internet just can’t help with. 

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Over the past year we made the decision to move offices in Denver, from the third floor, to the second one.  Now, a move down ONE floor may not seem like that big of a deal…

Company memo: Please take all of the belongings from your desk down one level.  Try to grab any company property you see on the way down. Set everything back up.  Last one out, please turn out the lights.  Take the rest of the day off.

But no.  In reality a move, even one floor down, can throw an organization into turmoil for the months preceding and following the actual move.  How does one decide when to move?

As our organization grew, we saw that our growth would soon slow if we tried to fit five people to a cubicle.  Not quite true, but you get the picture.  For an organization that has grown beyond the borders of its office space, it’s clear that they must invest in more space to keep growing.  However, the decision of when to make the move is not as simple.    

Before making a move (even down one floor), it takes months of searching, negotiating, and prepping the organization and its clients for the move.  Keeping the same phone number is integral if possible and an Email preceding the move to an organization’s client base explaining the move is not a bad thing either.  

When we decided to open an office in NYC it was a different challenge. The first hard lesson we learned was that office space does not come with views of the mountains. A truly disappointing selling point for all the space in New York. But seriously, have you ever tried to move to New York and open an office? It's kind of like anything else in New York- simple in theory, but in practice...  

For example, one part of the office has a large space that was  perfect for two executives to have two separate offices. We signed the lease which included the description of a wall for this space built with a door connecting the two offices.  Well when we moved into the office there was a 90% finished wall and no door. When we mentioned this to our office director, their response was “You wanted a door?” The office director then agreed to complete the project ASAP.

So at 10 am the following day, three burly workmen invade the office and start cutting out a door from the wall.  While the executives are on the phone negotiating CPMs with clients and prospects, they are simultaneously dodging mini-parts of wall launched in their general direction.  But they are patient guys.  One day of lost productivity will surely be made up by the privacy afforded by having individual offices.   

Once the dust cleared, lo and behold, a door- just as we had specified.  What we forgot to specify was that we wanted a door that could open and close (not just stay stuck in an awkward, mostly open position).  Oh, and we forgot to specify that we wanted a doorknob.  Silly us.

 Though working through several more days of this craftsmanship, and two more days of cleaning (all of which occurred between the hours of 10:00 and noon), the office came together.  Productivity is up.  Morale is at an all time high.  And we want to go back to Denver, to the third floor.

David Fishman and Will Braunstein
dfishman@ileadmedia.com