Field Notes on Hot Desk Scouting
Documented observations from a three-floor hot desk environment where no desk is temporary to its occupant.
FIELD NOTES: HOT DESK SCOUTING January 2023 | Three-floor hybrid office environment
2023-01-15, 08:52
Subject entered building and proceeded to third floor. Third floor: 6 of 22 desks occupied. Subject walked the length of the floor, paused at two desks, moved to a third desk near the window.
The third desk is the same desk the subject occupied on Thursday.
Hot Desk Scouting adds one coordination step to every morning the office is entered. The step is not on the calendar.
2023-01-15, 08:57
A second colleague arrived on the third floor. That colleague scanned the available desks and chose a position near the kitchen. Both parties acknowledged each other. Neither party explained their desk selection to the other.
Nearby, a third colleague selected a desk on the second floor before ascending to the third floor to confirm whether the third floor had better light today.
It did not. They returned to the second floor.
2023-01-15, 09:04
Subject has settled. The desk is not assigned. The desk is not formally the subject's desk. The subject has a charger plugged in.
Someone walks past several open desks to find the one that feels least temporary. The day is called flexible while requiring extra location planning.
General Finding
Coworkers start planning around the scouting step. The second floor is now described as "the backup." This characterization was not issued by management.
Flexibility hardens into an unwritten schedule that governs which floors are worth checking. The third floor near the window is worth checking first. This has been communicated through proximity and repetition. No memo was required.