Ken Fry

His Work: Design Director

“I think the fact that we all share a space and the fact that there’s no sense of hierarchy in terms of the space, I think that suggests how we work.”

When I ask Ken Fry about his your workspace he says “it’s open obviously.”  “There’s no distribution of people by any kind of title or hierarchy or anything other than the fact that the principles are at that end of the office.” The individual handling finances is also at the end of the office along with a new project manager but their workspaces look the same as everyone else’s. Mr. Fry tells me “it’s a pretty informal and comfortable space.” “It’s not nearly as bad as many other small businesses in terms of messiness. I mean there’s a fair amount of clutter around here but it’s sort of organized clutter.” Mr. Fry shows me a whiteboard, approximately 30 to 40 feet long and several feet high. He says “we use wall space all the time” and I see the walls of whiteboards in the two conference rooms.

Ken Fry tells me that he has been here for about a year and a half and before that he worked for Microsoft for 12 years. He says “myself along with maybe half the people here came from Microsoft.” He tells me “we’re really well steeped in Microsoft culture” so they know how to work in the high tech industry.

I ask him about working in an open space and the differences between that and a closed space, if he can tell me about any advantages or disadvantages. He says that in his previous employment “I worked in both an open space and a closed space. We were one of the guinea pig groups in the last group I was a part of that was investigating new ways of actually organizing space. So I was actually in a kind of semi-open space so I shared a space with about five other people I think. There’s pros and cons obviously. I prefer this, but even like what you and I are doing right now is potentially distracting to these two guys so that’s sort of one of the down sides. Or even the worst case scenario is when you’re on the phone with somebody and there’s distractions going on so that’s sort of the downside to it. I guess the benefit that I like is that you get a sense that you’re a part of this group of people here.” 

In a pensive tone he tells me a little about workspace he says “I think that one could argue that, at a place like Microsoft, where you actually have individual offices is consistent with this culture of individual reward and everything about that. The rewards you get from a pay perspective to the recognition you receive as an individual, to the spaces that you have, is all there kind of recognizing the individual in the organization— and that’s not always the most productive.” This is where in our conversation he goes on to tell me “I think the fact that we all share a space and the fact that there’s no sense of hierarchy in terms of the space, I think that suggests how we work. And how we work is actually, whether it be internally with groups of people or with our clients, it’s all about the team— that team effort.”

I ask Ken Fry how feels when he is working in his space. He tells me “it feels comfortable and familiar and supportive.” “I don’t feel isolated or alone. And I think there is a certain amount of freedom that this space, and it’s not just the space it’s the culture of the organization that there’s this certain amount of trust that’s sort of in the air around here. I think we all share an interest in doing the best work that we can and I don’t know how that’s reflected in the space or how the space sort of reinforces that notion in all of us but that’s sort of what I feel when I’m working here.”     

I notice the expansive windows in the office and Mr. Fry tells me it’s a nice view. He says “I love it, but it’s amazing how little I actually look outside” and he laughs. “But I also think that there’s, there’s probably architectural terms for this, there’s a sort of ambiance to actually having that there, where you can look up and get to see more than ten feet in front of you. I think that’s probably beneficial in some fashion.” He explains to me that having natural light is important but that for him personally, though the view is nice, it’s not something he needs to have.

Ken Fry tells me that about two thirds of the time there is music playing in the office. He tells me that if someone needs private time they all have headphones. Mr. Fry explains to me that the headphones also do more than just cancel out the sound. He says “since we are working in this sort of open space, headphones also communicate a message to other people around you that ‘hey you know I’m kind of focused on what I’m doing right now, kind of leave me alone right now.’”

I ask Mr. Fry about his job and what it means to him because it sounds like its important. He says  “I think for me, personally, my job is a huge part of my identity and its part of—I believe, we as human beings are sort of by our nature we need to work and I think of the job as part of that work. And I think that a person’s job should reflect kind of what it is that they’re passionate about, what it is that they’re great at, what it is they get recognized for. So I think that all those things need to be wrapped up in a job. But I think at the same time that all of us are always searching for that way of actually making it the best experience possible, so I don’t know if there’s ever a job that’s perfect for anybody because there’s always something else that you’re reaching for. For me, I’ve been at Artefact now for a year and a half and the reason why I came here was to help enhance that job, and what’s nice working for a small company like this is that you’ve got a lot of freedom or control, or I don’t know what the word is but basically kind of shape the job into what you want it to be.” “I feel like this gives me the right balance of the freedom to shape my own career as well as it falling in line with that I like to do.”

I ask Ken Fry to put his experience with his work into a few words and he replies “I think this is more a reflection of how I think about work and less of a reflection on this particular job. But for me it’s about being equally reflective and expressive at the same time.” “I think for me meaningful work is all about being able to reflect on the work that you’re doing in a very personal way as well as being able to express your work in a really good way.” He says that pushing papers, or just producing something, or clerical work wouldn’t be as personally fulfilling and meaningful to him, that it would be disappointing, so I ask if this job is personally fulfilling and meaningful to him and he says “oh yeah, absolutely.”