Managing
creative people are often compared to herding cats (link 1, link 2,
link 3). And that can be a daunting task as cats are
known to do mainly do what they want to do.
However
this is not a blog post about the usual answers to leading creating
people. As usual I have connected som related things and got this crazy idea
that I just have to share (and I hope that ranks me as one of the creative peole).
Well,
leading creative people may be like herding like herding cats, which
sounds stressful, and often taking part in a software development
project is almost the definition of a stressfull environment.
This
is a bit funny as actually research shows that owning cats have many
benefits. One of the benifits are that having cats around
reduces stress. Having worked from home the last couple of month I
can attest to that having a cat sleeping on your desk next to your
keyboard while you work has a very soothing effect that lets you
concentrate on the job. And if you need a quick laugh just take 2
minutes watching a cat play with a string (not my cat,
allthough one of my cats are called Arthur).
A
couple of month ago, I stumbled over a refence to cat cafés.
At that time I thought it funny, and was wondering if a cat café
would work here in Copenhagen where I live. But recently I have
thought further – what about cat offices? Would it be an
improvement to an office if there was a cat or two present?
On
the top of your head you will probably call the idea ridiculous but
try to give it some more thought. Cats are very clean animals and
they sleep 60-70% of the day, and are generally not hard to keep. It
is a very little expense and that could easy be recovered if they
help create a less stressfull enviroment with a less negative mood
that increases the productivity.
I
am not saying this is an idea that will work for everybody –
perhaps it will only work for a few – but on the othe I hand I do
believe it should not be completely written off either.
Do
any of you know offices where they keep cats? Then please leave a message in the
comments.
