cove.work - Cowork with a crew

One-pager: what is cove.work?

cove.work is a place to find a Cove to cowork with. A Cove will always be:

• four people
• meeting in a public place
• spending three hours together, working
• sharing a Cove “vibe”

It’s still an idea, and I’m building a protype soon.

On the site/app, the user creates an identity: a character with customizable pins, accessories and colors. In the home page, user can go through invitations for Coves near them. They choose the invitation they prefer, based on the characters of the profiles that have joined before them. When four people join an invite, the Cove becomes official! They get a calendar appointment for the place and time mentioned in the invite. The work “vibe” (suggested) is a three-hour (tentative) work session, broken down into 25-minute focus timer and a five-minute break. If everyone says so, members of a Cove can reach each other again on the app.

What cove.work will not be: No ads, ever. No payment for meeting. No friend network. No scrolling feeds. No video of any kind.

Later, as a stretch goal, we plan to add modifiers that tweak the Cove for specific needs - femme-only, strictly no small talk or disabilities-friendly, to name a few. Invitations with modifiers will be easily identifiable, and the user can set up preferences or search with filters for them.

Progress

todo:

• the domain name is available and reasonable, but with ~$400 upfront cost. Should I buy? omg

• build a prototype
• show to a few friends

Why this, why now?

In recent times, I have considered it a victory to step out of my house. Having worked remotely for five years, being laid off, and taking a hiatus to recover from burnout, I found myself in my home more than out. As someone who is working their way out of depression (possibly due to burnout), in an increasingly digitally social era, this has done no good to me.

Working in corporate tech for about 8 years out of my last 10, being productive during work hours is seeped into the folds of my brain. When I’m not “productive”, I am questioning my being here, undervaluing whatever else I’m doing (like thrift shopping, catching up with a friend who has a day off, or helping with a friend’s garden - all things incredibly valuable to my psyche). This cycle of finding myself at home, and questioning my want to be out in the city, has made it incredibly hard to function. Even fun side-projects don’t take off - I barely manage any focus time that feels good.

“Why don’t I go to a cafe and work?” I asked myself. I see these people with their laptops, typing away on window-facing seats, nursing their iced coffee. I thought I could do that, how fun! I tried that, but I found that being by myself while working from a cafe is prime occasion for distraction. I people-watch, I scribble about random ideas, I journal and think - all great things to do when I’m in a public space in my own shell. However, I don’t manage to get that much work done. See, even if I am home and on a audio call with coworkers, I manage to get more done. I am accountable to them to keep focusing on my tasks. I chime in occassionally and we take breaks, but we all come back to working. Body doubling for ADHD has documented benefits, even.

Ugh. All this makes me sad. We are in a society that’s promoting isolation more by the day. Less people are starting families, more people are working remotely, and unemployment is at an all-time high. Less workplaces are available to do literary or art-related work, and we are all in some ways seeking side-gigs and contract work that we can do on our own. In these times, getting out and being in public spaces is an antidote to all of that.

The best days of coworking in a cafe happened when I did that with my friends. We picked a public spot to sit and work for a few hours, shared our goals for the session with each other, put our heads down. When we took a break, we looked at each other, shut our laptops or books, and checked in. Then we got back to it. Brought each other water, reminded each other to stretch our necks, and stayed on track. Two hours later, I felt more accomplished than an entire day isolated in my living room work desk.

Sometimes, I gather to cowork with friends, but fail to establish a set of goals for myself to complete in the time. We end up chatting, and there’s no motivation to go back into work. “Am I holding her back from her work?” I think, but then I think “Maybe she has time too, and anyway it’s nice to catch up with her adventurous month!” and let the conversation flow. I end up having a great hangout with my friend, but have I worked? No.

Apparently, this thought is on Joe Previte’s mind too - he just launched Co-work with Friends incidentally exactly this week. A lot of my friends have also relied on this to get things done when they’re in a rut, or feeling lonely, or in depression. Lifting up a friend in this way and helping each other get work done feels very very fruitful.

I’m thinking this is not just me. So I want to build something for myself, and for the community. Something I am calling cove.work for now, but I’m open for new names - please hit me up! It’s still a nascent idea, but I think there’s no better way to get some feedback than putting it out there. If you’re curious, here’s what I’m thinking:

• Coworking is best done in groups of four. Two’s too cozy unless you know each other (or it’s remote), three can lead to situations where chemistry of two end up distracting the third. (Obviously this is anecdotal, so if you think different, please fill out this survey with some more questions - I promise it is just 3 minutes long). Five and up, too large. Seating is hard to find. Introductions last too long and you don’t get to know the far corner guy.
• Coworking is best done in themes. If I’m building a tech thing, I want to work with others who are doing similar things. If I’m doing uni homework, or writing my book draft, or doing life admin work - I would love to hang out with others doing similar things, which probably brings everyone closer in terms of mindset, goals, tenor of the hangout, life circumstances.
• Coworking is enjoyable with people we know, but also equally productive when they are strangers who elected to work under similar terms. A little social glue goes a long way - everyone buys into little chat, accountability, and a time frame with goals you may or may not share with others.
• Discovering such groups, with a right amount of social glue applied but serendipitous enough to be able to do on the day of, in a new city, is really hard. Yes, you can post on our social media account with 8023 followers, but chances are it won’t be the same.

With these themes, I’m venturing on collecting some information about the validity of my assumptions. I think some answers are to be found from social workers, some from therapists, some from productivity coaches, and some from people with experience doing this often. I don’t yet know who are the people in need of this kind of a thing, but all I know is I’m curious about this and I want to put it out in the world.

If this is something that sparked interest in your mind, please, please, reach out. Call me without warning, message me on socials, or reach out through chitrakathe.com/contact-me - I am open to listening to anything you are thinking.