Part Two of Three: Accounting for Interactions in the Fabric of Work

 The Secret Ingredient for Matching Work to Place

The Missing Ingredient is Interaction Intensity

At a common sense level, this missing ingredient is simply: to do the work I need to do (this hour, day, week) how much can I do by myself and how much do I need to interact with others? We’re coming to believe that that can be solidified into a single measure called Interaction Intensity. Interaction Intensity is comprised of two parts: how many interactions are required and what is the velocity (response time) for each.

We believe this can be modeled at the activity level. One can get started with a single role, or do a workgroup (project team or department) or an entire enterprise. Our explorations have taught us that understanding the intensity or required interactions is the secret ingredient for matching work to place. They also taught us several other important things:

  • This can and in fact, should be done at the role level independent of any person filling that role at a given time (this actually makes perfect sense once one remembers this is just part of a job description which is written describing the role not a person)
  • The basic categories that the model is built around need to be straightforward and easy to remember (2 or 3 not 10 or 12)
  • The model will be more enduring if we describe the characteristics of a place rather than name a specific place

 

The Three Basic Types of Work

We believe that all the activities necessary for the operations of an enterprise can be put into one of these three fundamental categories:

  • Solo (or Independent) — An activity that can be carried through to completion by an individual working alone. While this activity might require great intensity of focus by the individual it does not require interaction with others and therefore the Interaction Intensity score is effectively zero.
  • Interdependent — An activity that requires interaction with other(s) to complete. There is a wide range within this category — from activities that require a single interaction with a single person (say an approval) to complete an activity that might require multiple interactions with multiple people). But as a general rule, the interaction velocity for these interactions is on the low side — that is, required response times in days, hours or minutes that can often be provided asynchronously (by message rather than real-time interaction). Interaction Intensity (# of interactions x velocity (response times)) is moderate.
  • Collaborative — An activity that requires a lot of interactions with a high (real-time) interaction velocity. As we progressed in the two explorations above it became clear that there was real value in distinguishing between Interdependent and Collaborative work as the place requirements were quite distinct.

It has also become clearer that these three are really groupings along a spectrum rather than hard and fast silos.

 

Connect with Us

If you would like to continue a discussion on this topic, contact us by email or +1 214 292 7000.

About the Author

Chris Shaida, CEO and Founder

Chris Shaida is the founder and CEO of RealFoundations. Chris brings over 30 years of real estate industry experience to RealFoundations. He has played an essential role in building and managing real estate information technology consulting practices both within a “Big 4” management consulting firm and a real estate-focused professional services firm. Chris founded RealFoundations to provide a place where like-minded professionals are able to focus their deep industry and solution knowledge and passion to help improve the operations of our real estate industry and corporate real estate clients.

Chris has experience in each of RealFoundations’ defined market sectors, with depth of knowledge in the homebuilder and corporate real estate segments. Chris and his teams have served as trusted business advisors to some of the most recognized names in the real estate industry, including Kaufman & Broad, Hovnanian, Centex, Shea Homes, GIC and Simon Properties.

Shaida founded RF to provide a place where like-minded professionals are able to focus their deep industry and solution knowledge to help improve the operations of our real estate industry and corporate real estate clients.

 

 

 

About RealFoundations

RealFoundations is the world’s foremost professional services firm focused solely on the real estate industry. Through our delivery of Management Consulting and Managed Services, we help companies that develop, own, operate, service or invest in real estate make better, more profitable decisions. We are proud partners to over 500 real estate companies around the globe, providing accelerated solutions that solve some of real estate’s most complex challenges. We Make Real Estate Run Better.