Harvard Business Review: Should You Hold Office Hours? | Bill Taylor

Should You Hold "Office Hours"?

Bill Taylor

Original Post:  http://blogs.hbr.org/taylor/2009/12/should_you_hold_office_hours.html

The concept of "office hours" for business goes back to a universal ritual from our college days. We'd take classes with professors who were busy, distracted from teaching with research in the lab or the library, and otherwise remote and unapproachable. But we knew that for a couple of hours, at least one day a week, we could stop by their office, ask for advice, try out an idea, and get the guidance we needed. Well, we're the professors now — busy, distracted, unapproachable — and it's our colleagues, customers, and all sorts of other constituents who are eager for our time and guidance. So maybe it's time to transport that familiar ritual from the Ivory Tower to the halls of business.

I first encountered the idea about six weeks ago, when Jason Fried, the ever-creative CEO of 37signals, announced that he would hold office hours every Tuesday and Thursday from 3 PM to 5 PM Chicago time. I've written before about management innovations at 37signals, but this idea struck me as both simple and elegant. Here's how Jason explained it: "You can call and ask product questions, pre-sales questions, suggest feature requests, lodge complaints, offer praise, share ideas, discuss recent blog posts, or talk about good or bad experiences using our products. Anything that's on your mind is fair game. I'm here to listen, share, and be available to help in any way I can."

Lots of CEOs say they hope to improve their company's products and services by listening to the "voice of the customer." Here's one who means it literally. For two hours a day, two days a week, customers can call and tell Jason what he needs to hear — just by dialing the phone.

I thought Jason's announcement was a neat one-off idea until, about a month later, I encountered a blog post from the must-read Scott Kirsner, the "Innovation Economy" columnist at the Boston Globe and one of the most connected guys I know in the world of venture capital and startups. Scott made the case that "open office hours" weren't just an idea but a movement, and that a bunch of venture capitalists in New England were carving out time on their calendars when entrepreneurs with questions, ideas, or business plans could get face time just by signing up. (Scott's Twitter feed is a great way to stay on top of all the other folks joining the office-hours bandwagon.)

A case in point was a general partner at Flybridge Capital by the name of Chip Hazard. (Great name for a venture capitalist, by the way. If he was a commercial banker, he'd have to change his name to Moral Hazard, but that's a thought for another day.) Chip recently announced that on December 9, he'll be holding his first-ever office hours. "Thinking about starting a new technology focused company?" the invitation asked. "Already working on a tech company and interested in getting feedback from a VC? Facing a business challenge and looking for advice? Ready to get financing and want to review your pitch?" Sign up in advance and you get 20 minutes one-on-one with Chip.

Indeed, Scott was so impressed by the idea that he announced that he would start holding office hours himself — a first for a journalist, but a great way to stay 

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