Re: [Coworking] How would you improve coworking software?

[Alex Hillman]

100% 100% 100%



On Wednesday, April 13, 2016, Angel Kwiatkowski 
wrote:

> Here's what I would do if I had the knowledge...
> In Cobot, I would add all these neat reminders and tasks like birthdays or
> 2 week followups but it would be open and visible to ALL members so the
> members could choose to do a task FOR ANOTHER MEMBER and check it off.
>
> Angel
>
> On Saturday, April 9, 2016 at 9:32:27 AM UTC-6, Rob Landry wrote:
>>
>> Hi Everyone,
>>
>> For those of you who manage coworking spaces, I'm wondering - what would
>> you like to see to improve coworking apps and  make them more useful to you
>> and your members?
>>
>> I'm familiar with apps like Cobot and Coworkify, among others.
>>
>> I started a coworking space a few years ago and built an app that works
>> as a CMS for the website, handles billing of members, and a public member
>> directory, among a few other things.  The app is now used by a number of
>> spaces.  I'm ready to refine it
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Rob
>> r...@pleinairinteractive.com
>>
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Re: [Coworking] How would you improve coworking software?

[Brian Crotty]

Hello Alex,

That makes a lot of sense.  And maybe I wasn't clear enough earlier - that 
is what our space experiences too, the automated matching has limited 
benefits, the meet-ups, the group lunches - those are the real serendipity.

Cobot also has a Zapier Integration 

 
(When a new member in Cobot signs up or cancels, you can trigger a bunch of 
other stuff to happen in other programs, reminders on the calendar, tasks 
on Trello, etc.) We have been using it in co-up primarily for exiting 
members, but that is a really good idea to give reminders to the space 
managers for all the "extras" that bring through the personal touch.

But I guess my only remaining question is, that is a way to make an 
individual feel welcomed, but how can a software help really integrate them 
into the community (or can it?).  I often think that the more we turn to 
technology for solutions, the more we realize that spending the human time 
together is the real key.  Which brings us right back to Cobot *giving more 
time!*

But we also plan to bring a social platform (facebook light) into Cobot in 
the near future.
Brian

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Re: [Coworking] How would you improve coworking software?

[Alanna Imbach]

What you're describing sounds remarkably like Razor's Edge, which is what 
folks in the nonprofit fundraising world use to build, manage and 
'cultivate' relationships with donors. The biggest difference would surely 
be on the side of the members' usability (non-existent for donors in RE).

I'm fairly new to the coworking world and gearing up towards building a new 
coworking community in my area, but would love to stay in the loop with any 
conversations about collaborating on Nadine or Razor's Edge-similiar. 

Alanna
alanna.imb...@gmail.com



On Monday, April 11, 2016 at 5:01:18 PM UTC-4, Jacob Sayles wrote:
>
> This is how we do things in Nadine here at Office Nomads.  It's really 
> easy to automate things but from the very beginning we specifically pointed 
> all automations at staff so that we can connect with members personally.  
> Nadine sends us reminders when there are tasks that need to be done like 
> take a member's photo, or take their photo down from the wall when they 
> leave.  It also reminds us on member's anniversary and other "special days" 
> so we can celebrate with them the next time we see them in the space.  On 
> the member side it's pretty simple but it does allow for member to post a 
> little about themselves and check out what is going on.  
>
> All of Nadine is open source and I've love to build out the development 
> and user communities if anyone is up for collaborating.  To date I've spent 
> more time referring people to Nexudus and Cobot then I have recruiting 
> people to use nadine but if people are really interested in developing an 
> open source tool, this is a great place to start.  
>
> Jacob
>
> On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 1:02 PM, Alex Hillman  > wrote:
>
>> I'm extremely skeptical of the leap to automation, especially when it's 
>> paired with the idea of "matching." 
>>
>> If relationships came down to a simple has/needs equation, maybe. But 
>> it's much more nuanced than that. Dating sites have proven this for years. 
>> And I say this as someone who met his partner on a dating site. 
>>
>> There is an insane amount of low hanging fruit before we need anything 
>> that looks like automated matching. 
>>
>> Community Building isn't a game of matching, it's a game of trust 
>> building. The best way to build (and maintain!) trust at scale is to be 
>> looking for excuses for conversations, and keep track of what you learn 
>> over time. This helps individuals stay on top of things and teams "call the 
>> ball" before something happens, good or bad. It's these conversations 
>> that help members feel felt, appreciated, heard, and understood. 
>>
>> - "it's been 2 weeks since Mary joined. Have you checked in with her to 
>> see how she's doing?"
>> - "if you checked in with Mary, reply with a couple of notes about your 
>> convo so the rest of your team knows how she's doing too."
>> - "have you talked to any members this week who is having a tough time? 
>> Is there anything your team should know about that could make their lives 
>> easier, or conversation topics that might be worth avoiding?"
>> - "next week is John's three year anniversary anniversary of being a 
>> member. Let's plan something special for him!"
>> - "has anybody heard from George? It's been 2 months since I saw any 
>> notes on his account. He might be looking to cancel soon if we lose touch."
>> - "these 25 people mentioned you on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram recently. 
>> Some might be members - remember to say thanks!"
>> - "your event calendar is looking pretty empty next week. Maybe a good 
>> time to suggest a happy hour?"
>>
>> Basically, I want a robot assistant that reminds me and my team to be an 
>> awesome human with our members and friends in the ecosystem. Light 
>> automation on top of data that a membership platform should have on hand. 
>>
>> We've barley started to cobble these kinds of reminders together along 
>> with our operational processes (
>> http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2015/01/6-automated-workflows-that-make-our-coworking-space-better-every-day/)
>>  and 
>> it makes a HUGE difference for the team and their ability to support the 
>> community in ways that I know create MUCH more lasting, scalable value than 
>> a matching engine ever could hope to. 
>>
>> You're right - it's silly to expect that people keep this stuff in their 
>> head. But "matching" isn't even on the list of tasks for our community team 
>> - that's an outcome of doing the other stuff right. 
>>
>> -Alex
>>
>> On Monday, April 11, 2016, Brian Crotty  
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello Alex,
>>>
>>> This was one of the topics that came up at our bi-annual Cobot 
>>>  retreat too.  We have always had the tagline "*More 
>>> Time for your Coworkers*" - because we feel that the primary way to 
>>> build community is getting out there face to face and building community.  
>>> But over the years, we have the feeling too that it is time to be more 

Re: [Coworking] How would you improve coworking software?

[Jacob Sayles]

This is how we do things in Nadine here at Office Nomads.  It's really easy
to automate things but from the very beginning we specifically pointed all
automations at staff so that we can connect with members personally.
Nadine sends us reminders when there are tasks that need to be done like
take a member's photo, or take their photo down from the wall when they
leave.  It also reminds us on member's anniversary and other "special days"
so we can celebrate with them the next time we see them in the space.  On
the member side it's pretty simple but it does allow for member to post a
little about themselves and check out what is going on.

All of Nadine is open source and I've love to build out the development and
user communities if anyone is up for collaborating.  To date I've spent
more time referring people to Nexudus and Cobot then I have recruiting
people to use nadine but if people are really interested in developing an
open source tool, this is a great place to start.

Jacob

On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 1:02 PM, Alex Hillman 
wrote:

> I'm extremely skeptical of the leap to automation, especially when it's
> paired with the idea of "matching."
>
> If relationships came down to a simple has/needs equation, maybe. But it's
> much more nuanced than that. Dating sites have proven this for years. And I
> say this as someone who met his partner on a dating site.
>
> There is an insane amount of low hanging fruit before we need anything
> that looks like automated matching.
>
> Community Building isn't a game of matching, it's a game of trust
> building. The best way to build (and maintain!) trust at scale is to be
> looking for excuses for conversations, and keep track of what you learn
> over time. This helps individuals stay on top of things and teams "call the
> ball" before something happens, good or bad. It's these conversations
> that help members feel felt, appreciated, heard, and understood.
>
> - "it's been 2 weeks since Mary joined. Have you checked in with her to
> see how she's doing?"
> - "if you checked in with Mary, reply with a couple of notes about your
> convo so the rest of your team knows how she's doing too."
> - "have you talked to any members this week who is having a tough time? Is
> there anything your team should know about that could make their lives
> easier, or conversation topics that might be worth avoiding?"
> - "next week is John's three year anniversary anniversary of being a
> member. Let's plan something special for him!"
> - "has anybody heard from George? It's been 2 months since I saw any notes
> on his account. He might be looking to cancel soon if we lose touch."
> - "these 25 people mentioned you on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram recently.
> Some might be members - remember to say thanks!"
> - "your event calendar is looking pretty empty next week. Maybe a good
> time to suggest a happy hour?"
>
> Basically, I want a robot assistant that reminds me and my team to be an
> awesome human with our members and friends in the ecosystem. Light
> automation on top of data that a membership platform should have on hand.
>
> We've barley started to cobble these kinds of reminders together along
> with our operational processes (
> http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2015/01/6-automated-workflows-that-make-our-coworking-space-better-every-day/)
>  and
> it makes a HUGE difference for the team and their ability to support the
> community in ways that I know create MUCH more lasting, scalable value than
> a matching engine ever could hope to.
>
> You're right - it's silly to expect that people keep this stuff in their
> head. But "matching" isn't even on the list of tasks for our community team
> - that's an outcome of doing the other stuff right.
>
> -Alex
>
> On Monday, April 11, 2016, Brian Crotty  wrote:
>
>> Hello Alex,
>>
>> This was one of the topics that came up at our bi-annual Cobot
>>  retreat too.  We have always had the tagline "*More
>> Time for your Coworkers*" - because we feel that the primary way to
>> build community is getting out there face to face and building community.
>> But over the years, we have the feeling too that it is time to be more
>> active on adding the community building and personal matching tools right
>> into Cobot (coming soon to a software near you).
>>
>> But that being said, I think that there are also a lot of ways to built
>> it within the space with events and the matchmaking that comes through with
>> it. That is also one of the keys of co-up , our own
>> space.  We have been hosting meet-ups, especially programming oriented
>> meetups and don't charge room rent as long as they don't collect fees from
>> the attendees.  For us it has been perfect because we are know throughout
>> the community for being the host, and for being a space where people can
>> run into each other. We know who to refer questions too and there is
>> something for everyone (who programms). 

Re: [Coworking] How would you improve coworking software?

[Alex Hillman]

I'm extremely skeptical of the leap to automation, especially when it's
paired with the idea of "matching."

If relationships came down to a simple has/needs equation, maybe. But it's
much more nuanced than that. Dating sites have proven this for years. And I
say this as someone who met his partner on a dating site.

There is an insane amount of low hanging fruit before we need anything that
looks like automated matching.

Community Building isn't a game of matching, it's a game of trust building.
The best way to build (and maintain!) trust at scale is to be looking for
excuses for conversations, and keep track of what you learn over time. This
helps individuals stay on top of things and teams "call the ball" before
something happens, good or bad. It's these conversations that help members
feel felt, appreciated, heard, and understood.

- "it's been 2 weeks since Mary joined. Have you checked in with her to see
how she's doing?"
- "if you checked in with Mary, reply with a couple of notes about your
convo so the rest of your team knows how she's doing too."
- "have you talked to any members this week who is having a tough time? Is
there anything your team should know about that could make their lives
easier, or conversation topics that might be worth avoiding?"
- "next week is John's three year anniversary anniversary of being a
member. Let's plan something special for him!"
- "has anybody heard from George? It's been 2 months since I saw any notes
on his account. He might be looking to cancel soon if we lose touch."
- "these 25 people mentioned you on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram recently.
Some might be members - remember to say thanks!"
- "your event calendar is looking pretty empty next week. Maybe a good time
to suggest a happy hour?"

Basically, I want a robot assistant that reminds me and my team to be an
awesome human with our members and friends in the ecosystem. Light
automation on top of data that a membership platform should have on hand.

We've barley started to cobble these kinds of reminders together along with
our operational processes (
http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2015/01/6-automated-workflows-that-make-our-coworking-space-better-every-day/)
and
it makes a HUGE difference for the team and their ability to support the
community in ways that I know create MUCH more lasting, scalable value than
a matching engine ever could hope to.

You're right - it's silly to expect that people keep this stuff in their
head. But "matching" isn't even on the list of tasks for our community team
- that's an outcome of doing the other stuff right.

-Alex

On Monday, April 11, 2016, Brian Crotty  wrote:

> Hello Alex,
>
> This was one of the topics that came up at our bi-annual Cobot
>  retreat too.  We have always had the tagline "*More
> Time for your Coworkers*" - because we feel that the primary way to build
> community is getting out there face to face and building community.  But
> over the years, we have the feeling too that it is time to be more active
> on adding the community building and personal matching tools right into
> Cobot (coming soon to a software near you).
>
> But that being said, I think that there are also a lot of ways to built it
> within the space with events and the matchmaking that comes through with
> it. That is also one of the keys of co-up , our own
> space.  We have been hosting meet-ups, especially programming oriented
> meetups and don't charge room rent as long as they don't collect fees from
> the attendees.  For us it has been perfect because we are know throughout
> the community for being the host, and for being a space where people can
> run into each other. We know who to refer questions too and there is
> something for everyone (who programms). It becomes the identity of the
> space.
>
> *But how can that be automated? *
> You need to open the space, coordinate meetings, find willing
> coordinators. be available. Sure the scheduling can be automated, but that
> is a small piece of the pie...
>
> *Where does software come into the picture then...*
> We are putting our bet on "intelligent matching". Increasing serendipity.
> Right now the referrals, are coming through our staff, but we want someone
> in the Rails Girls group to be able to meetup with someone from the Coding
> Amigos if they are both currently working on a front-end web project. And
> to encourage people to contact people who arrive on other nights.
>
> Some of this is done through our Slack channel / integration. But *a
> social platform that helps with matching* is really the key.
> No space manager, no matter how good they are can keep the individual
> quirks of 100+ members in their head, especially when people are coming for
> extra events as well!
>
> *Increasing the Building of Community is the Holy Grail of Coworking!*
> And it is what will always set independent spaces apart from the big
> "coworking" operations.
>
> Maybe we can push it further 

Re: [Coworking] How would you improve coworking software?

[Brian Crotty]

Hello Alex,

This was one of the topics that came up at our bi-annual Cobot 
 retreat too.  We have always had the tagline "*More Time 
for your Coworkers*" - because we feel that the primary way to build 
community is getting out there face to face and building community.  But 
over the years, we have the feeling too that it is time to be more active 
on adding the community building and personal matching tools right into 
Cobot (coming soon to a software near you). 

But that being said, I think that there are also a lot of ways to built it 
within the space with events and the matchmaking that comes through with 
it. That is also one of the keys of co-up , our own space. 
 We have been hosting meet-ups, especially programming oriented meetups and 
don't charge room rent as long as they don't collect fees from the 
attendees.  For us it has been perfect because we are know throughout the 
community for being the host, and for being a space where people can run 
into each other. We know who to refer questions too and there is something 
for everyone (who programms). It becomes the identity of the space.

*But how can that be automated? *
You need to open the space, coordinate meetings, find willing coordinators. 
be available. Sure the scheduling can be automated, but that is a small 
piece of the pie...

*Where does software come into the picture then...*
We are putting our bet on "intelligent matching". Increasing serendipity. 
Right now the referrals, are coming through our staff, but we want someone 
in the Rails Girls group to be able to meetup with someone from the Coding 
Amigos if they are both currently working on a front-end web project. And 
to encourage people to contact people who arrive on other nights.

Some of this is done through our Slack channel / integration. But *a social 
platform that helps with matching* is really the key.
No space manager, no matter how good they are can keep the individual 
quirks of 100+ members in their head, especially when people are coming for 
extra events as well!

*Increasing the Building of Community is the Holy Grail of Coworking!*
And it is what will always set independent spaces apart from the big 
"coworking" operations.

Maybe we can push it further at GCUC in LA!



On Saturday, April 9, 2016 at 6:35:04 PM UTC+2, Alex Hillman wrote:
>
> There's a million ways to manage billing out there but nothing that 
> actually helps us be better at our jobs. I'd kill for tools that actually 
> helped with the community building process. 
>
> Every CRM-like tool is basically a "deal flow" manager or, at best, an 
> account manager. I'd love something that actually helped me and my 
> team build and cultivate stronger relationships with the people in my 
> community. Ideally, it's something that members get value from too, and not 
> just a "management" tool. 
>
> We've tried everything we can find and still get more mileage out of our 
> convoluted Frankenstein of spreadsheets, Trello, Wordpress, and custom 
> software. I would be thrilled to pay to outsource this to something 
> designed with community in mind. 
>
> -Alex
>
> On Thursday, April 7, 2016, Rob Landry  > wrote:
>
>> Hi Everyone, 
>>
>> For those of you who manage coworking spaces, I'm wondering - what would 
>> you like to see to improve coworking apps and  make them more useful to you 
>> and your members?
>>
>> I'm familiar with apps like Cobot and Coworkify, among others.
>>
>> I started a coworking space a few years ago and built an app that works 
>> as a CMS for the website, handles billing of members, and a public member 
>> directory, among a few other things.  The app is now used by a number of 
>> spaces.  I'm ready to refine it 
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Rob
>> r...@pleinairinteractive.com
>>
>> -- 
>> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
>> --- 
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>> "Coworking" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>> email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>>
>
>
> -- 
> --
> The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.
> Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com
> Listen to the podcast: http://dangerouslyawesome.com/podcast
>

-- 
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Re: [Coworking] How would you improve coworking software?

[Alex Hillman]

There's a million ways to manage billing out there but nothing that
actually helps us be better at our jobs. I'd kill for tools that actually
helped with the community building process.

Every CRM-like tool is basically a "deal flow" manager or, at best, an
account manager. I'd love something that actually helped me and my
team build and cultivate stronger relationships with the people in my
community. Ideally, it's something that members get value from too, and not
just a "management" tool.

We've tried everything we can find and still get more mileage out of our
convoluted Frankenstein of spreadsheets, Trello, Wordpress, and custom
software. I would be thrilled to pay to outsource this to something
designed with community in mind.

-Alex

On Thursday, April 7, 2016, Rob Landry  wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> For those of you who manage coworking spaces, I'm wondering - what would
> you like to see to improve coworking apps and  make them more useful to you
> and your members?
>
> I'm familiar with apps like Cobot and Coworkify, among others.
>
> I started a coworking space a few years ago and built an app that works as
> a CMS for the website, handles billing of members, and a public member
> directory, among a few other things.  The app is now used by a number of
> spaces.  I'm ready to refine it
>
> Thanks!
>
> Rob
> r...@pleinairinteractive.com
> 
>
> --
> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Coworking" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
> 
> .
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>


-- 
--
The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.
Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com
Listen to the podcast: http://dangerouslyawesome.com/podcast

-- 
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[Coworking] How would you improve coworking software?

[Rob Landry]

Hi Everyone, 

For those of you who manage coworking spaces, I'm wondering - what would 
you like to see to improve coworking apps and  make them more useful to you 
and your members?

I'm familiar with apps like Cobot and Coworkify, among others.

I started a coworking space a few years ago and built an app that works as 
a CMS for the website, handles billing of members, and a public member 
directory, among a few other things.  The app is now used by a number of 
spaces.  I'm ready to refine it 

Thanks!

Rob
r...@pleinairinteractive.com

-- 
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