Going to War

Bill Wittland

At larger corporations and even some mid-sized companies, it was not uncommon to create distinctly dedicated, often somewhat secluded spaces when a special and important project required the assembly of a designated team to focus on a crucial and specific task. Sometimes, it was a new product introduction or a program launch. Other times, it might have been the exploration of a new direction for the company, perhaps a new market to be entered or a new division or brand to launch. Remember what those rooms were called? “War Rooms,” right?  

I was thinking about War Rooms the other day, remembering some of the ones I had the opportunity to frequent over the years. The specifics of those memories are not something I should disclose. After all, I had the distinct privilege of being an outsider invited into the sort of cone-of-silence that those special spaces frequently represented. Some of you reading this right now are remembering what I am talking about. But these reminiscences about War Rooms revealed to me what might perhaps be a useful insight. 

What were the defining traits of a War Room in those days? There are likely more of them than I can list and describe here, but these are a few that seem to stand apart: 

  • Dedicated Tasks — a group laid claim to a space or were simply assigned one for a War Room because there were some specific, identified tasks to be tackled; a group was coming together for this mission, often leaving behind other day-to-day responsibilities to address a special project; their work had a definition, a purpose, and an expected outcome. 
  • Focus — the War Room became a place for this group to sharpen their focus on that specific task, to concentrate their attention in both individual work and in group work, dialogue and conversation; sometimes the work was formal and process-based, other times more casual and spontaneous; sometimes very scheduled, other times some drop-in activity, but always centered on the mission. 
  • Information Persistence — the walls (sometimes virtually any available surface) of these War Rooms were often peppered with notes, messages, thoughts, diagrams, charts, printouts, etc.; there was ample evidence of ideas, thinking, and sketching,  all focused on the group’s mission and, most importantly, based on the conviction that these bits of insight should stay constantly within the group’s field of view; there was a sense that displaying the group’s work would unmistakably advance the group’s work. 
  • Tool Sharing — the War Room nearly always contained a wide array of tools, some digital some quite analogue; that variety of tools was united by a common thread of joint ownership, as the team embraced their identity as a group by bringing together and sharing the tools that supported their work, their dialogue, their creativity; there was a distinct attitudinal difference between the tools people tended to protect in their individual workstations and the tools that were the common property of people using a War Room. 
  • Belonging/Community — a less tangible but no less important trait of these War Rooms was the sense of belonging and common identity they created and nurtured among the users of the space; in addition to naming the spaces, often posting makeshift and sometimes playful signage and bringing along their key work tools, users sometimes also brought favorite personal items and symbolic objects; frequently, there were a number of identifying elements — mascots, sort of — that signaled that they proudly belonged to a special group. 

As I noted, there are likely plenty of other attributes of these War Rooms that could be identified and described, but I am struck by how many of these features and traits called out here are so clearly and profoundly relevant for all general office workplaces of today, not just War Rooms. 

Consider task and focus: the office workplace of today must have a rationale that goes well beyond simply “where I go to work.” The workplace needs to have the same degree of task definition and focus that War Rooms had. Who are we, as individuals and as a group? Why are we gathering here? What’s our mission? How will we concentrate on doing our best work in a way that achieves our best outcomes for the challenge we have been assigned? If today’s workplace cannot be a space where there are clear answers to those questions, answers that can be articulated by every member of the workforce, then there is no rationale to ask people to come to the office. 

Consider information persistence: One of the primary differentiating features of a War Room was the persistent display of ideas and information, thinking and imagining. Again, it fully appears that the workplace of today must be a place where information and ideas live in highly and constantly visible ways. Designers can be quick to call this clutter, and it certainly appears that way if you were planning a photo shoot of the space. But the workplace can’t be considered a set for photography. It must be a place were thinking and creativity are on display, where seeing ideas and possibilities helps spawn new thinking and new outcomes. The information persistence of the War Room must be a defining feature of the workplace of today and tomorrow. 

Consider tool sharing: A defining feature of a War Room was the pooling of tools, be it the containers of dry erase markers, the shared printer, the unassigned seating and workspaces, the snacks and fruit, or the books/articles scattered about for perusal and idea seeding. It was a space where a team could leave behind, share, and trust that there would be a mutual respect for common access and ownership. The workplace that emerges from our pandemic isolation must be a place where the tools of knowledge work are the property of the group, not just the individual. And those tools must find a place to exist and be shared. 

Consider community: Finally, those venerable War Rooms were a place where a strong sense of community was created and nurtured, where identity took form, and where genuine collaboration yielded some significantly creative thinking. They were spaces where no one was required to spend time, but where the members of the group chose to spend time. This may have been one of the most powerful and compelling attributes of a War Room. It was a place where people wanted to work. The embodiment of an effective workplace for today is likely that profound trait… being a place where people actually want to spend their time. 

Perhaps War Rooms have disappeared from the workplace landscape, but their key attributes may need to be made real throughout the workplace, now more than ever. That is, if we really want people to want to work there.