January 6, 2009 at 9:35 am
One thing that I miss about the office when I'm working @ home are the dual widescreen monitors on the workstation @ the office. Having three laptops strewn about the couch in the living is productive, and having the big TV as background noise is nice, and being somewhere else is good insulation from meetings...
Maybe one of these days I'll submit to the onerous "ergo evaluation" required to get a sit/stand desk around here. I had a motorized sit/stand desk in previous lives and it helps to be able to stand up and type for a couple hours a day, especially when it's hard to stay awake during conference calls. Heh.
There's an entire wing of people here who have stacked two desks on top of each other in order to accommodate working while walking on their own personal treadmill. I have no idea how they carted said treadmill into the orifice. I don't enjoy work or exercise THAT much.
:hehe:
My dream company is fully distributed, with no orifice space @ all. And not only because it's expensive. I think that the "right kind" of people for my dream business will be most productive in whatever environment they setup for themselves. I've met highly productive freelance coders who work out of a Starbucks because they don't like being @ home alone (although a big chunk of their paychecks wind up spent on coffee). I know it's delusional, since I don't want employees, either, just partners in the business. Experience has taught me that there are very few people who are self-motivated enough to work that way. But someday I'll start another company and give it a try anyway!
January 6, 2009 at 9:40 am
Certainly people are important, but having the "extras" help keep the good people.
Jack Corbett
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January 6, 2009 at 9:58 am
And, perhaps more importantly, Jack, you keep the good people that fit your environment.
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January 6, 2009 at 10:22 am
ref Mark Lines Davies comment : That sounds a lot like the layout at Burton House, Withington Hospital, Manchester (England) where my wife used to work with geriatrics. It's all been built over now, but that was a good design for accessibility and meant that all wards had 3 sides of 'outside' to look at.
January 6, 2009 at 10:55 am
I've never worked at a place where IT people get the prime offices. I work in a shared office right now, but all of the other IT people have their own office - and most people here don't work in a cubicle. It's just the way that the office space was set up. There just aren't that many cubes.
But I would like to highlight what Steve said about the main export of a company being software. I have never worked at a company where their main product was software. I would imagine that this is the only type of company which will treat you well. It is the only company where they see you as the bottom line, their bread and butter.
Maybe if I am ever lucky enough to get a job at one of these companies, I will see what it is like on the other side - like Joel's company.
Mia
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January 6, 2009 at 11:14 am
Steve Jones - Editor (1/6/2009)
And, perhaps more importantly, Jack, you keep the good people that fit your environment.
Right. The environment which includes the people and the work area are both important. The people become more important the more shared space you have.
Mia,
I think you are right. I've only worked at non-software companies and the environments are definitely different, yet in every industry I have worked in the most successful companies are the ones that valued IT and provided positive work environments.
Jack Corbett
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January 6, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I've had the gamut of office space, from plush to hellish.
In college I worked at a medical billing software company that was housed in a converted dairy barn on the boss' farm. The owner was a urologist who displayed scary antique medical instruments in glass cases in our office. One day the server started throwing disk errors like crazy. It turns out the server room was where they shoveled the droppings from the dairy cows stalls. They just leveled it, put a wooden floor with some carpet on it, but two years later it started to settle into the cow manure. Servers like a level floor; who knew?
I worked at a dotcom startup that had rented desks lined up in rows like a 1940's era typing pool. The VCs loved it because they thought it meant managment was not wasting their money. Little did they know... we made all gone anyway.
I was a contractor at a government agency where they put a desk in their "server" closet, which consisted of one tiny rack of servers and one ginormous freakin' air conditioner about three feet apart. The AC had a two position switch, on and off. I used to turn off the AC, slip up next to the rack and let the warmth of the servers thaw me out until I could feel my legs again. I still have freezer burn from that gig.
The only time I ever had a private office was at a govt agency that was staffed with the most devious, cutthroat, arrogant group of no-ops to ever survive being abused by their parents. The nice furniture and comfy chair did not make up for having to deal with that motley crew.
I have found that if the people and the work are enjoyable, nice office space is just a bonus.
January 6, 2009 at 12:59 pm
"I'm tempted to set up shop in the basement and go all out with a space that's set up for working."
Don't do it. Not unless you have windows that are above the ground. I had half my basement set up, complete with fireplace, all the outlets I desired at desk height (on separate breakers even), server rack space, and 5 different desks... but my basement is almost completely submerged... 1 foot high windows at the top edge of the wall, and even they are in window wells, and none in the primary office space. I never wasted so much time as I did there. It was depressing... badly. I am instead interested in converting my patio, but worry about the theives, seeing that the equipment would be visible. Maybe I'll keep the hardware downstairs... may just bring up a laptop.... and the screens...
I put a rope chair swing in for the baby in the middle of my basement workspace... and then those were my more productive days... watching her sqeal in delight in the long sway of the full swing.
It has been proven even that people subjected to cave living get depressed. Maybe some live video feed from the house top pointed at the distant mountains to monitors on each wall in the basement would be a way to dress the "dungeon" space...
January 6, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Tips for Foggy-Joel and everyone else.
He's 90% on track.
We've had some Web and Software companies with pool tables, here. I know one that's gone. So it is more then just the physical amenities, even though I consider them Highly important.
At an interview years ago I was shown a bare mobile home trailer that was to be used for office space. I was turned off by that idea but it may not have been bad. I've worked in adjacent office, private office, quad-cubicles with and without walls. Isolation is not pleasant, but neither is too much noise and distraction of Talking salesman.
At my current workplace, I've been on two different floors, in four different locations, in the past six years. This unintentional moving around idea may have some good points.
People who are easy to get along with, and bosses who aren't dictators/clockwatchers are also a benefit. My home office chair is the top-of-line steelcase brand, yes I'd like to stand up more. I've also had three different supervisors, including only myself for six months.
Main amenities I like are, reasonable pay, adequate Hardware/Monitors, Some flex time in arriving, allowed to work as many hours as I want (if I want to ), the people are easy to get along with, except when a supervisor is a bit too, much arrogant. Most people have a sense-of-humor, and supervisors aren't "breathing down your back".
What I have hated the most in the past is the cold temperature in the Winter. People shouldn't have to type wearing hoodies, but I do use a ceramic-core space-heater, that I've needed less this year. Cold air form an A/C vent has given me migraine headaches in the past. Yes it was supposedly to keep the servers-cold in the other room. More local A/C units have since been installed.
SUMMARY:
Priorities-Include: People/Personalities, Supervision-style, Amenities, Pay, Eduction/Benefits, Temperature, View
Noise/Views, some variety and control of, too much is distracting.
January 6, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I've got a walkout, need to get pictures, and there are two full-sized, outside windows on that side of the house.
I should give it a try, and see if I can work down there. I've been getting some complaints lately from my wife about my voice and typing, so maybe it's time for some separation.
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January 6, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Try it. After a while either you or her will start to miss typing/talking, being away from it, in a more isolated environment. It's been said that Man is a social animal and has a need for being gregarious.
A window view is nice, or you can use a Optoma DLP-Projector and a rolldown screen attached to a camera of your back yard. Or a different slide of your choice, each day. I think Bill Gates had "Live" Digital paintings in one of his high-tech homes.
January 6, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Not to be a contrarian, but gregariousness is overrated and usually counter productive. I thrive on chaos, personally, having worked in lots of startups and open-concept "agile" shops, but I very much like have my own office now. I turn off the lights in my basement office on campus and rarely if ever open the blinds @ home where I work in the living room. The Zune or the TV (I wonder if we can get satellite or cable on campus?) usually provide sufficient chaos to allow me to focus without the wife and kids doing chores or schoolwork (or fighting) in the background.
January 6, 2009 at 3:17 pm
My worst office is easier to pick out than my best. The worst, by far, was when my "office" was a desk in the server room, because the company lacked any better space for me. When my fingers would get too cold to type any more, I'd go to the room with a dozen high-capacity laser printers in it, which was effectively a sauna. Definitely the worst. Adding to it was the fact that I've had frostbite in my hands, feet, face and ears, so there's an added sensitivity to cold in those areas.
Not sure about my best office. I kind of like one on the 10th floor of a high-rise building in LA, because of the interesting view out the window. Working from home, which I have been able to do some days, but not consistently, is the best in terms of comfort and space (and currently a decent view out the windows), but I'm not sure I can consider that "my office", when it was really just a location to telecommute from on sick days with emergencies and such.
My current cube isn't too bad. Lots of space, and I do have a window where I can see some trees and such. And I'm not about to die of exposure! (Big plus!)
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January 6, 2009 at 5:36 pm
A great office space is definitely an important factor in retaining the best employees and even leading to increased productivity.
What I have noticed is that it is the non-IT companies (excluding of course Google and the various other Fortune 500 companies with a budget for office ergonomics) that tend to focus on a better office space for their employees.
I have worked as a contractor for an IT firm where I was located at a client's office and every now and then I'd have to pack and move like a gypsy so much so that for the longest period (or so it seemed at least) I was in a room that was in the middle of a small hallway and one that would give you the feeling of solitary confinement if the door was ever closed!!
After all when you spend more than half of your waking day somewhere, you would want it to be something you look forward to and not dread going to.
January 7, 2009 at 3:19 am
Oooh, how I wish I can work from home but I just don't have the savvy or the guts to go out on my own. Yes, people is important but work environment is also important. I had an office (not big) but with a window that can open and when the stress packed me I would take a breather by the window. Then we had to move office and now I have a cubicle like office with no windows that can look out. Smack in the middle of the building. I like people but only when I feel like it. People, especially women, likes to gossip and before you know it you got a fight on your hands. (Sorry ladies no discrimination meant!!!):pinch: Joel's offices looks pretty neat and to look out over a river! Neat!:w00t:
:-PManie Verster
Developer
Johannesburg
South Africa
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Holy Bible
I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times. - Everett Mckinley Dirkson (Well, I am trying. - Manie Verster)
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