Why Workantile? Reason #56

August 4th, 2009

MEK_3737Central Location: Downtown Ann Arbor

Workantile Exchange is in the center of it all.  We are near the bus station, several, parking lots and structures, restaurants, and banks.

Why Workantile? Reason #32

August 4th, 2009

MEK_3679Conference Rooms:Professional workspace designed for professionals

Meeting a client at a cafe is cute, but not credible.  You are a professional; shouldn’t your work enviornment reflect that?

Why Workantile? Reason #24

August 4th, 2009

MEK_3780Community: Knowledgable people, meaningful work. The members of Workantile Exchange are skilled and dedicated.  There are writers, technology workers, geeks, non-profits, filmakers, busines developers–a braod range of skills and knowledge is represented.

Why Workantile? Reason #11

August 4th, 2009

Outlets:   There are a lot of them. Plug in anytime.  Plug in anywhere.  All outlets at Workantile Exchange are on isolated circuits to help protect your equipment.

MEK_3691

Money, Scope and Time: Aligning expectations between you and your client

July 31st, 2009

Friday August 7, 2009 from 11:30am – 1:00pm

Workantile Exchange
118 S. Main
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Discussion led by Kathy Macdonald, President, The Macdonald Group.

A contract is an explicit agreement of what the consultant (you) and the client expect from each other and how both of you are going to work together. You either get this right … or you can suffer a long, painful and costly demise.

Starting a new project can be fun and exciting. Too many start-ups overlook the need to set expectations BEFORE WORK BEGINS. Don’t be one of them. Find out how to make your next project a lot more fun and profitable by starting off the right way.

This is one of the Workantile Exchange’s continuing series of Brown Bag Lunch meetings. Bring your own lunch and join us for a discussion!

Solving problems collaboratively trumps isolated expertise

July 28th, 2009

The New York Times discusses the strength of ad hoc collaborative problem-solving as it unfolded on the NetFlix Prize.

The biggest lesson learned, according to members of the two top teams, was the power of collaboration. It was not a single insight, algorithm or concept that allowed both teams to surpass the goal Netflix, the movie rental company, set nearly three years ago: to improve the movie recommendations made by its internal software by at least 10 percent, as measured by predicted versus actual one-through-five-star ratings by customers.

Instead, they say, the formula for success was to bring together people with complementary skills and combine different methods of problem-solving. This became increasingly apparent as the contest evolved. Mr. Volinsky’s team, BellKor’s Pragmatic Chaos, was the longtime front-runner and the first to surpass the 10 percent hurdle. It is actually a seven-person collection of other teams, and its members are statisticians, machine learning experts and computer engineers from the United States, Austria, Canada and Israel.

August 28 Brown Bag Lunch: “Greening Your Home: How to Keep Your House from Bleeding Money”

July 8th, 2009

Workantile Exchange is pleased to announce another of its Friday Brown Bag Lunch series.

Friday, August 28 2009, Member Matt Grocoff will lead a discussion of green building and renovation techniques for energy savings and sustainability. Join us, and bring a lunch that gives you a chance to watch and chat.

For more information, and to sign up, visit the Upcoming event page.

July 7 Ann Arbor Ruby Hackathon: 7-10pm in the Training Loft

July 7th, 2009

The a2rb Ruby Users’ Group has announced their next meeting will be held on 7 July, in the Training Loft at Workantile Exchange. Rather than a traditional UG meeting, they’ll be having a Hackathon: collaborative code production in pairs and teams.

For more information, contact Brandon Dimcheff, who is organizing and hosting the event.

Ann Arbor Chronicle on Workantile programming class

July 6th, 2009

On 12 June 2009, the Ann Arbor Chronicle published an interview with member Trek Glowacki about the class he and Jesse Sielaff taught at Workantile Exchange during May and early June.

Ann Arbor News coverage of Workantile Exchange

July 6th, 2009

On June 23, the Ann Arbor News published a nice interview with member Ben Mondloch, and a quick overview of our Grand Opening Celebration.