 " Chair Model " was the third episode of the series directed by Jeffrey Blitz . Blitz had previously directed " The Convict " and " The Negotiation " . The episode was written by B. J. Novak , who plays temporary worker turned corporate manager Ryan Howard . Novak was originally going to name the episode " Michael Dating " , but the title could have potentially been a spoiler because fans with DVRs would have seen it before " Dinner Party " aired and deduced that Michael and Jan 's relationship had completely fallen apart . For a while , " Parking " was going to be the title , but even that was decided against because that refers to the subplot , and also because it was generic and boring even by the show 's no @-@ frills @-@ titles standard . Eventually , someone suggested " Chair Model " , which was eventually kept as the name . Originally , Novak wrote Jim putting Dwight through a " phony management training " , but NBC pointed out that it felt like the writers had done it before even though they had not . As a group , the writers tried to think of a new idea for the plot ; they considered having Pam move in with Jim , but they thought that first the two should be engaged . 
