We've never had too many people since we've been open. In some ways, this is why the reservation system proved to be unnecessary once we got underway. I was sure that having a reservation system would be necessary to "assure" people that they wouldn't be wasting their time if they showed up... turned out that we typically have 2-3 people most of the time, maybe up to 5, but rarely more than that.
It could be because we don't do any promotion and people find out about us through the web or word or mouth, but it's just not been an issue. Now, *were* it to become an issue and we became insanely popular with 15-20 dropins showing up, that's different, but that would radically change our business, and make it worthwhile to invest in some kind of scheduling or charging scenario. One thing we've learned though, given how easy it is to build a custom Rails app these days, is to not prematurely optimize or to invest in behavior that may never materialize. It's almost as though you want to reach a pain threshold where you *must* take action... taking action in advance of something is a risk that a bootstrapped project probably should avoid, if only to limit wasting resources. Y'know? Now, that isn't to say that you *can't* build something like this, maybe to attract new folks, but we've seen personal connections and community tend to be *much* ways to build interest. Anyway...! ;) Chris On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 11:40 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Thanks everyone, some food for thought there. A few of the models you > mention I hadn't heard of. I'm wondering though, how are you planning > to manage overcrowding on some days? If you have no schedule or > booking and people are free to drop by any day, some days you'll have > "too many" people no? > > Most of us are not running at full capacity yet but it will come and > I'm wondering if these loose systems will work as well. > > Not that hour banks will fix that but wetter we change systems or not, > we plan on a booking site so people can confirm a desk before heading > here. The bigger advantage you mention for the day or half day systems > is less management which, again, I'm afraid will lead to too many > people on some days. > > > Patrick > > > > > -- Chris Messina Citizen-Participant & Open Source Advocate-at-Large Work: http://citizenagency.com Blog: http://factoryjoe.com/blog Cell: 412.225.1051 IM: factoryjoe This email is: [ ] bloggable [X] ask first [ ] private --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
