The Action Office, left, was Bob Propst's intentionally unfashionable
attempt to create a new kind of privacy. The "barren, rat-hole
places" that came later were not part of his plan.
Never a dull Dilbert: The stripped-down style of the Action Office
was supposed to encourage employees to leave their own imprint.
"We wanted this to be the vehicle to carry other expressions of
identity," says Propst.