Why Spatial Computing and the Metaverse Might Kill the Office

After a few years of promising flexibility and "work from anywhere" cultures, big companies are now pivoting back to their pre-2020 norm. Employees are being offered carrots (and in some cases, threatened with sticks) if they don't start commuting and sitting in cube farms yet again, and employers have simply chosen to ignore the outcry and force everyone back.

The unstated reason is that commercial real estate leases are both long and expensive, and rather than investing in converting those properties into housing (fun fact: NYC just hit 100k unhoused folks last week) companies would rather just maintain the status quo. The stated reasons, however, generally have to do with collaboration and serendipity -- running into someone in the cafeteria or being able to swing by your colleague's desk for a quick chat can enhance productivity, learning, and connection.

And that's fair. While Slack and other messaging services have filled in a bit, there is something to be said for swinging by someone's office for a quick chat -- and the formality of requesting a time on Zoom destroys that. But with the announcement of the Quest 3 and Vision Pro, there is another path forward -- the metaverse office.

If we're all working in a shared space in the metaverse, we can be anywhere in the world and together in the same office at the same time. We'll operate with a traffic light model -- if my avatar has a red light above my head, it means I'm in a meeting or on deadline and not to be disturbed. A yellow light means that I'm focused but can chat if it's urgent; green means I'm grabbing a virtual coffee and free for a gab. Our avatars can chat and collaborate and then head back to our desks.

And these virtual offices won't have any of the downsides of the IRL open plan spaces we have now. A very smart friend of mine, who has been diagnosed with ADHD, can't work in open plan offices and finds herself shut out from many roles where she would add value. She could simply block the noise and set aside "available" times, rather than dealing with constant disruption. And there would be no more sitting in traffic, cramming onto trains, or missing the opportunity to run errands mid-day.

The metaverse will transform the way we work and socialize in the next five to ten years. If you're interested in learning more, drop me a line.

An Overnight Sensation Seven Years in the Making

With the announcement of the Apple Vision Pro and the Meta Quest 3, the future I've been looking forward to since 2016 is finally here. I've spent the past seven years laying the groundwork for this moment, when VR would crack the mainstream. It has been declared the next big thing, only to be declared dead six months later, so many times I have lost track. The last several years have truly been a rollercoaster.

But all the building has led to this moment. I've been able to work with some of the biggest companies and consultancies to shape their thinking about spatial computing and designing for XR. I've taught at leading universities and lectured all over the world about how this technology will create transformative change, and now the rest of the world is catching up.

Think about the astonishing possibilities to come. I helped Coca-Cola understand how smartphone based AR needed to have some sort of tie to the physical world; this will be doubly important to understand on the Quest 3 and Vision Pro, with their superior passthrough.

I worked with Accenture, DDI, Walmart, and Lowe's to create training around social impact topics in VR -- imagine how that would look when volumetrically captured and placed in a new headset. And I still believe in the power of fully immersive VR training, a capability found in both headsets as well as all those currently in market.

The educational possibilities for these devices are extraordinary. I've been working with Meta on use cases for education, and it wouldn't surprise me if in ten years, every student was using one of these headsets to learn. From storytelling to curriculum design, I've helped customize it all for the metaverse.

If you're interested in building in this new world, please reach out. The last place you want to be is behind the curve.