Where Do You Rank? ... "PricewaterhouseCoopers is trying to crack the longtime link in employees' minds between space and status -- the notion that each higher rung on the corporate ladder brings with it an entitlement to a larger, fancier office." That's according to the New York Times writing about PWC's new, down-sized Manhattan offices. Partners will move from 250 square-foot offices on the window line to 125 interior square feet. Managers will move from 140 square feet to 80. ("A New Office Can Mean Making Do With Less," May 26, 2004).

This trend fits right into predictions from PikeNet Dispatch readers commenting on Extreme Business Planning: The 100-Year Solution (Dispatch, Apr 22). Rob Aldrich with BVT Management Services in Atlanta writes, "People will never be efficient workers out of the home, so office markets will react and convert large portions of buildings into flex space. Personal commutes will be to the local building close to your home, and average leases will be for 150 sq. ft. and 12 months."

And Steve Hufendick with ING Americas Corporate Real Estate paints a sci-fi future: "The PDA-like devices my great-grandchildren will carry (about the size of a lapel pin) will be fully wireless and self-contained. If they feel like some face time with their office mates, they'll swing into the office. Their PDA's, wherever they are, will be connected to a central computer cell 24/7 that will provide full, real time file access and whatever then is the equivalent of e-mail, married to what we now think of as telephone technology.

"PDA displays will be virtual and beamed to a set of eye glasses (i.e., military copter pilots), or up on your windshield if you're driving or flying your PAT (personal air transport). Battery technology will have improved so greatly that PDAs will always run until you switch them off. We won't need any office furniture except for a place to sit. Storage needs will be minimized since there will be few paper records. Handwriting will be an art."

Spread the Word... Many thanks to Chad Belson at treeSoft for sponsoring this week's Dispatch. treeSoft provides "commercial real estate financial analysis, business process improvement and real estate data integration." If you would like to tell Dispatch readers about your services, send e-mail or call 415-485-6700.

--Peter Pike