The New York Times Velodrome

Former BBC Director General Mark Thompson has confessed - to cycling round the wide open spaces of the New York Times building in the early days of lockdown, back in May. The revelation comes in the foreword to a new book about changing workplaces called "Where is my office ?"  

"The other day I unfolded my trusty Brompton and cycled fifty blocks through a deserted Manhattan to my office. Once I finished what I’d come to do, I got back on the bike and – breaking every health and
safety regulation in the book – took a ride through the interior of the building.

"Everything was exactly as I remembered it: the work stations, the photos of loved ones, the potted plants. On one desk, five bottles of hot sauce in a row. On another, a cardigan still lying where it had been thrown, one sleeve hanging limply over the side. The only thing missing was the people."

Mr Thompson, a devout Catholic, makes the admission now - he left the NYT's employ in July. On the day of the cycling, there were some 40 people in the offices - which usually see 5,000 people swipe in and out over a day. 

The book is written by former BBC property boss Chris Kane who was at the helm when the BBC launched a series of projects at the start of the century to produce new buildings ready for digital broadcasting, through a series of public/private finance deals.  Many opposed the accompanying move to open-plan working - but Thompson says the need was clear. 

"In broadcasting as in so many other industries, the twentieth-century model of a division of labour between separate siloes of expertise, each with their own offices and hierarchies, was also breaking down. Nearly all the new challenges were multi-disciplinary and were best solved by agile teams coordinated by empowered junior front-line leaders. Silicon Valley had demonstrated years earlier that teams like these work best when their members sit together in informal and inspirational shared spaces. 

"The reasons are practical – it’s much easier to keep a team in sync when everyone’s in the same room – but also psychological: teams who no longer sense the beady eyes of their host departments on them feel far more able to take risks and try new ideas."

Now Mr Kane takes on the question of whether we need those offices at all.  I'm sure he'll have readers at the BBC.