Jim Holman, who is currently studying an MBA at Harvard Business School in the US, previously worked as a financial analyst at Walt Disney, the global entertainment company.
Video Killed The Office Worker Star
As I exit my apartment, my Apple Watch 36 lights up: “Starbucks Office Recurring Appointment In Five Minutes.” I swiftly walk down the block and turn the corner; as I continue two blocks further to my destination – a mere 3-minute walk from my apartment, the longest commute of all of my “friends” on my Apple Watch Fitbit app – I pass a former men’s formalwear shop and dry cleaner, defunct in today’s virtually completely virtual work environment. A closet full of Lululemon fitness apparel has replaced the slim-fit suits in which I launched my career.
As I step into Starbucks Office, the store’s Apple Watch app pushes a notification: “Good morning, Jim. Your Gold Status has earned you a corner office for the day.” The pods that I pass are abuzz with workers on Skype calls and Veris-ísimo machines. Instead of baristas, these souped-up iterations of the 2012 original Verismo serve all of Starbucks’ tried-and-true favourites, plus juices and dietary supplements, and cut time spent waiting in line.
With a minute to spare, I seal the door on my workspace, voice-order my beverage, unfurl my collapsible tablet, and launch its only program: Skype. In Skype’s current edition, moving from one meeting to the next is as simple as changing the channel. Presentations and data are shared within the still-slim app, and Skype’s new note-taking function transcribes the meeting’s most emphasized points and the entire final minute, when takeaways and action items are shared.
With no need to write, I mount my tablet on the wall for most meetings and either stand or walk on the treadmill embedded in the floor to boost my Fitbit statistics. With a workday that runs straight through lunch – I typically voice-order from DoorDash – and well into the evening, this chance to integrate fitness into work is requisite.
As the day wraps up, I slip my team’s performance reviews in under the deadline: with all reviews done via LinkedIn endorsements, they take a matter of seconds. With these submitted, I put my tablet to sleep, exit the building, and use the walk home to reminisce about the days when I used to manually input dollar bills, and buy paper tickets to ride now-defunct trains.