Creativity at the Beach

Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported on a small software company, Red Swoosh, that opted for a change of scenery in April 2006.  Four developers moved their offices to a beach in Thailand for six weeks. The idea was to regenerate the team, and thus their thinking. The result was both better deliverables and a higher level of team work.

Lots of lessons from this experiment. The WSJ article emphasized the structure behind the experiment that made it successful--clear goals, accountability, fiduciary responsibility to the investors, staff that could travel for long periods of time (e.g., single men under age 30) and highlighted some of the challenges (e.g., time zone differences with customers, language and cultural differences, finding Internet access near a beach). 

What struck me was this concept of introducing new ideas into our work through the environment.  Disparate ideas come together when we get out of our routines.  New perspectives literally come from new geography. 

Change the playground of work and see what happens.