Want a change of scenery? Here's how to change your office to meet your needs, or just because you feel like it
You know the old saying, "you need to demo to reno"? Not the case in Katmai. As your team grows - or even your taste in layout! - you can easily update an existing space to meet your updated needs.
You don't even need to leave your Katmai space to do some renovating. While logged in, look to the upper left corner of your screen, and click the Katmai icon to expand your options.
You'll find your space settings under the middle icon:
From here, you can switch your architecture, switch your location (for when you're tired of that skyline you chose for the space), or rotate the location (which rotates the skyline outside your windows for a fresh view).
Our focus here is on architecture, so click on the Switch Architecture button.
This will open up a list of all available Katmai office architectures.
You'll have many options to choose from, so let's review what the various options mean.
Office layouts
Central Offices are Katmai's signature layout structure, a combination of co-working areas, conference rooms, and offices.
Central Offices are distinguished by how many of these spaces they come pre-loaded with. Options range from three to six co-working areas, one or two conference rooms, and four to 14 offices, so you can tailor your virtual space to meet your team's day to day needs.
To choose a space, simply click on the option you want. Did you accidentally pick the wrong space? Just open up the menu again and you can swap out spaces with a single click of a button.
Co-working areas
Co-working areas are shared spaces where you can work alongside your team members for easy collaboration - or to be social.
Conference rooms
Conference rooms are exactly what they sound like - enclosed spaces that enable collaboration. Conference rooms have virtual tables you can sit around, designed so the team can easily view each other as you chat. Conference rooms also have presenting options that allow you to share your screen or present to the group with improved visibility.
Offices
Offices allow for a more private work experience. All offices have windows so you'll be able to find each other in the Katmai space, but also offer closable doors for privacy and desks to sit at.
Tips for choosing a space
How do you know which space will work for you? Here's some things to consider before you choose.
- Headcount: How big is your team? Make sure the space is large enough to accommodate everyone who will be in it at the same time. Pro tip: Each Central Office is aptly named with a number that correlates to the amount of people that space is ideal for.
- Offices: Does everyone need their own dedicated office space, or will you use a more unstructured process?
- Working hours: Will everyone be in the space at the same time, in the same time zone? You may need a bigger spaces if your whole team's hours overlap, or a smaller space if folks come and go from different time zones.
- Frequency of meetings: Do you often have meetings that overlap? This will help determine how many shared spaces or conference rooms you need.
- Presentation styles: Do teams often need to share their screens or present on a board? More conference rooms will help with that. If collaboration is more informal, shared work spaces may do the trick instead.
Remember: You're not locked into your original choice. You can update your architecture any time to expand or contract the size.
Create more spaces as your team grows
As your team expands, consider creating additional spaces to share - sort of like floors in an office building.
Katmai spaces are optimized for 25-30 concurrent users, so if your team expands beyond that, you have the option to create unique spaces for departments, teams, or other groups who need to work together and collaborate. (You can grant users to multiple spaces, too, like having a keycard or badge that lets you access different parts of a physical space.)
Note: Changing the architecture is limited to admins, and will change the space for everyone in it, so it might be a good idea to warn your colleagues you're about to alter reality! Everyone is teleported back to the front door when the architecture is updated so it can be a bit of a surprise (they will receive a warning as to why, though).