Friday, October 29, 2010

Paris - Moving to the New Office

Yes, We've Moved Offices Once Again...
Apparently in this schizophrenic company, it's normal to move your office once a year.  I've been working here for 13 years and I've worked in 13 different offices.  This morning, I had to get on a train and go a completely different direction - westwards to a neighborhood called Levallois, which is right next to the Seine.  In this photo, it's in the upper left-hand corner.  Luckily, I live on metro line 3, which has a stop right next to my apartment and which ends right at the new building.  I take it 16 stops, which takes around 20 minutes.  I am, by far, one of the lucky ones.  Others have horrendous commutes now.
We've moved into a SAP building.  Why?  Who knows, nobody ever explained it to us.  It's shiny and new, like most buildings here in Levallois.  This area was once synonymous with the French car industry - the manufacturing epicenter.  It's now a big business park with boring corporate buildings.
Our building is a strange, circular-shaped oddity, eight stories tall.
Here's a view looking northeast from our window.  There is nothing and I mean nothing to do outside.  No cafes, few restaurants.  Just work, work, work.  I miss Bastille, the old neighborhood, already.
I was hoping that the building across the street with the giant green baby was some kind of hip internet company, but no, it is a bank headquarters.
I do, however, have a beautiful view, south towards the Eiffel Tower.  We are southward facing with large windows at the top of the building, so there is a lot of light all day long.  That is a huge plus in Paris.

2 comments:

Sal said...

Some old Roman dude once remarked about management that "some people mistake motion for action" or some suchlike gem. (If I knew the Latin, I could find out who the old dude was.)[Reported in the Harvard Business Review]

FN said...

@Sal - exactly. Except in our case it would be mistaking inaction for thought.