We are in the midst of an office expansion and re-design of our work space. It is an exciting time, but like many things it is filled with subtleties and details that you only begin to understand once you dive in. Let's just be nice and say software developers are "particular" about their work spaces. I do have great support from our facilities group, but there is only so much they can do from afar. This is one of the challenges of managing the Outpost. Wearing multiple hats and stepping outside your domain, in much the same way as a small business owner. For the next few weeks, I am a part time facilities manager. I am embracing this challenge. Expanding my skills. I occasionally watch HGTV, I got this!
But, this is serious business. These decisions will impact productivity. Better not get it wrong!
"Yeah, yeah - that's great about the offices, meeting rooms, and work spaces, but where is the dart board and Foosball table going?"
Interesting article from Fast Company about creativity and its impact on office layout:
http://www.fastcompany.com/3017987/bottom-line/why-you-should-spend-your-morning-in-a-cave
How do you strike that balance between quiet concentration and collaborative team spaces? What do you think? No, really, I can use some help here. Post your suggestions and I will report regularly on the process and progress.
"How do you feel about dead things hanging on the wall?" ... wait, what?
This is going to be more challenging than I thought.
This article had some good points (Along with some super outdated ones) http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BionicOffice.html
ReplyDeletein particular, not putting monitors against a wall, so you can look to the side and have your eyes focus at a distance, and avoiding L-shaped desks to encourage pair programming
(The way they used their windows and office shapes to maximize window real estate and natural light was also quite awesome, but not super practical in many environments, including ours)
One I just read today. http://blog.42floors.com/our-office-is-too-loud/#.UkR6uGRgYVt
ReplyDeleteI firmly believe all offices are designed inside out. Instead of everybody sitting out in the open with conference rooms it should be the other way around. Have devs sit in the conference rooms... 3-6 people per (team size). And have the open space as the collab, meeting and fun space. And ideally in that open space you would have some tvs with couches, etc for team code reviews, walkthroughs etc. And also some pair coding setups.
That is an interesting take on it. The floor plan I am looking at right now is more in that traditional sense that there is a large open area where people will work. But, what I want to accomplish is use the white-board walls and similar dividers to create those team spaces within the open area, then have the couches and collab spaces surrounding those team spaces. We have our tvs on carts, so we can wheel them into the common spaces or conf rooms as needed.
DeleteYeah. That's ok. Certainly better than just wide open. But not quite the same as an office. I'm easily distracted. So I need the actual walls around me. And I just get depressed when I see empty conference rooms and offices where real work could get done. Or even worse conference rooms being filled with loud, time waster meetings. All while devs sit bunched up in a big area being distracted and half as productive as they could be.
DeleteI've found that while collaboration is important it actually works much better when it's scheduled collaboration. Ad-hoc collaboration tends to be more of the distractive kind and not of great value. Where as scheduling a collab session in a specific collab space tends to be a much more valuable use of time.
Btw I should add my ideal workspace is more sq ft than most companies are willing to spend per employee. I'm just anal about these things. I think if you're going to spend 100+ grand a year on an employee giving them the proper work environment only makes sense. Whether thats top end equipment or their ideal workspace. I also know that people tend to disagree on these things. And I've changed my mind over time. I used to be a fan of the open workspace. That was until I actually started working on things that took extreme focus and wasn't building websites that I could pop out in my sleep (or distracted state).
ReplyDeleteIdeally when you hired a new developer you would ask them what their perfect workspace would be and you'd try to give it to them. From computer type and OS to desk and chair.
I've been able to try both back and forth for the last year as we've shuffled our office around. I definitely miss being able to close my door but especially as the team has grown pretty rapidly I've appreciated being close enough to a teammate that I can just wave and start a discussion, or help them out with an unforeseen IDE/SCM issue when I can see they're having trouble.
DeleteI'd say in the long term, I might like a more isolate office, but in order to keep moving quickly from a team perspective I'm willing to trade off some of my personal efficiency to improve team efficiency