Epic Whimsey

When a business modestly refers to their home office as the company's inter-galactic headquarters - it is comforting to know they have high expectations for future growth and revenue.

At the same time, I wonder why the goal stop at the edge of the Milky Way... why not the universal headquarters?

The operation of what started not quite 20 years ago as an idea to improve record keeping in health care is now a sprawling college-like campus on the west side of Verona.

Epic is home to more than 6,000 employees and as many (or more) whimsical pieces of art, architecture, and spirit.

Intentionally, the grounds of Epic lean to the different.  Instead of buildings A, B, and C - they are named for constellations in one section of campus while in another area stand office buildings labeled the Barn, Shed, and Farmhouse.

Grand Central Station has two subway cars with lights flashing as they wait for riders to get aboard.

Epic employees have their own offices because, as their self-guided tour book says, research finds employees with offices are 2.5 times more productive that people working in cubicles.

This is no cubicle farm that's for sure.  There are many, many conference rooms and lecture halls that we looked at while walking just a portion of Epic.

The Waterfall room has this view out side the glass walls that make up two sides of the conference space that seems to float on top of the lake.

It's an environment designed to provoke imagination and ignite brain cells while giving workers a sense of being part of something different than most Fortune 500 companies.

The latest addition to the Epic campus is the Farm.

After walking from the Jungle layout of Deneb through a tunnel into pastoral farm country.

There's a large red barn with white trim.  Inside is Wilbur and Charlotte's web providing the marquee above his corner office.

Outside, the farm shed building is a bright green John Deere tractor ready to circle the sunflowers or get a rake to work over the alfalfa after the programming is finished.

The farm campus workers eat in a brightly lit Farm Market cafeteria that offer some big city cups of coffee and wholesome lunches at prices to keep the workers "down on the farm" during lunch.

The amount of detail in each building is impressive.  Inside the stable building each office door looks like it could have a horse behind it.  The door appears to be two halves with a window to swing open on top anchored by the lower half the rest of the day.

While it looks like a worker's version of paradise - there is a method to the madness below the veneer of fun and games.

As I walked through the buildings it occurred to me that some of our institutions might benefit from some whimsey.

The Defense Department might tap into alternate solutions to the woes of the world when looking at from the perspective an expansive Farmhouse front porch.

Problems that seem unsolvable might get tackled from a different angle if the committee would meet in a two story tree house with access only coming after climbing a ladder and crossing a swinging bridge. 

The tree house is in the forest of Endor - but no Ewoks were visible (I think they were hiding behind the trees).

It's the one place on campus where the workers literally left their mark.  On the walls and two by four support beams are little messages and words to the wise for future workers.

"Epic is epic," was my favorite.

Endor was the last stop in our tour - with a walk through outdoor gardens and a stream complete with Mallard duck decoys.

Then we took a right turn by our friend Humpty, who was still working on the same page of software, and home again until the next opportunity comes along to explore the Epic galaxy just a few miles away.