“Men and women want to do a good job, a creative job, and if they are provided the proper environment, they will do so.”
—Bill Hewlett
To foster innovation, teamwork, and collaboration, Google Ventures uses the walls of a dedicated space they call their war room as a canvas for shared note-taking and as long-term storage space for projects in progress. When working on a project, employees at Google Ventures capture every decision using whiteboards, Post-it Notes, or writing on glass windows. The more they put on the walls, the more shared understanding they build. Fast Company listed Google Venture’s recommendations for creating a great war room:
•LOTS OF SURFACE AREA. To accommodate all the information you want to capture, you need a lot of space, including windows, empty walls, and as many whiteboards as you can fit.
•DEDICATED TO PROJECTS (not meetings). Don’t turn your war room into just another conference room. For best results, remove it from the company’s room-scheduling calendar.
•FLEXIBLE FURNITURE. Sometimes you will want chairs and open space to invite discussion. Other times, you will want desks for writing or drawing. The ideal war room has furniture that’s lightweight or on wheels, so it’s easy to move.