Carl: On Work Experience

Sue is doing a great job in giving everyone a full description of our first few weeks; I thought I would add some color around the work experience.

First the tube; it is efficient but it is crowded, early and late. This is a little surprising especially the “early” part. I expected Londoners to start later and end a little later every day but it seems that they try to get ahead of the rush the way a lot of New York commuters do to the extent that the trains are crowded from 7-9AM and 4-6PM.

And the cars themselves are tight, like they were designed for “littler” people. The cars also don’t have as many seats as NY subways, actually providing dedicated room for standees and for people with strollers, vertical bags, etc. The buses are the same way and, as I think about it, this probably reflects the fact that public transportation is a big fact of life here (given the expense and difficulty of driving in London) and so public transportation is probably designed to cover a wider set of needs.

Finally I suspect that the tube will be quite hot in the summer.

But enough about subways and buses.

What’s it like to work here? So far pretty good though I am still not in a London rhythm. My mornings tend to be slow but about noon of every day, when the US “wakes up”; it gets pretty busy and can continue into the evening, especially now that the US east coast is 5 hours “behind” the UK with the UK having gone to DST this past weekend.

The office pace is definitely slower; lots of meetings, lots of analysis, slow to make a decision. And people are not candid with each other in public settings, like it’s not good manners to have a different point of view on a subject, in public. So you leave a meeting thinking things are agreed only to find out that, subsequent to the meeting, there may have been additional conversations that cancel out what was decided. Weird but the way it is until we have a chance to start changing culture and behaviors.

There is certainly plenty to do and, when the Thomson-Reuters deal closes on 17 April I am sure the London pace will pick up.

One final thing; everyone at Reuters works out in the open, no closed offices and no dedicated desks. You come in the morning and just take any desk that’s open, first come first served. Very different! If you need privacy you commandeer a “60 minute room”, an enclosed space where you can conduct a private meeting or make a phone call that you don’t want the whole world to hear. As you might imagine these rooms are in high demand. I think this kind of open office concept is extreme and, frankly, inefficient, but I am sure some space planner/designer is delighted with what has been wrought.

Well that’s it from me for now.

All the best, Carl.