Comment by iamleppert | Hacker News Reader

Comment by iamleppert | Hacker News Reader

I found I was the most productive when I was in a small office with 2-3 other developers, with a door we could close. Everyone was setup this way, and people ended up decorating each of their rooms and every room had a "theme" (ours was called the lounge). This degree of personalization brought me closer to my co-workers whom I shared the office with, and as a result we worked better together.

In the afternoons, we'd have our "coding sessions" where we could close the door and just sink into whatever project/problem we were working on. The result (without constant distractions of people walking by/around us) was extremely productive.

This was back in Ohio years ago. Since then, I've moved to the bay area where I've unfortunately been forced to work in open offices. I find them depersonalizing and my ADD kicks in with people constantly walking by/around me. I isolate myself with good noise canceling headphones, but I find myself longing for the days when I shared an office with some really cool dudes. Or, maybe I still haven't found a team I like.

Anyway, I find it odd that companies in the bay area, with how innovative everything is out here, think open offices are good and/or work. You pay people 6 figures to use their mind and then make them sit in a room all day with constant distractions. It makes no sense.

Product idea: if you work at a startup of just 4-5 people and it's pretty quiet in your little space, we'll rent out temporary fake co-workers, who will talk loudly about their weekends next to you, shoot nerf guns, and get on the phone with AT&T to dispute a charge. The premium plan will include a manager who walks the floor and asks you how things are going. You can rent the co-workers on a weekly basis, or even just for one day when an investor is stopping by.

Hell, the investor themselves can demand this service. Call it empathy building, and remember, if you don't work 80 hours this week you get to go join the salt mine devs!

Awesome ;) Sign me up!

That sounds like the next hot startup! Will you be dogfooding your own service?

Dude, your jonesing my idea. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9978487

I've got second-mover advantage now!

Wanna split the three commas?

I'l take new york, you can have SF.

At one point a company I worked for had a similar setup and we did much the same thing. Our office basically turned into a small dorm room (we were all in our early 20's at the time) kind of like you see on the show Workaholics. We had posters, jokes, a whiteboard covered in notes and stupid drawings, we even had themed playlist days where we'd come up with what genre or theme of music we'd have playing... 90's day, it's a cover song day, you're embarrassed you like it day, ska all the things day, etc... It was one of my favorite times/jobs I've had because of that atmosphere, we all learned a ton and collaborated on each other projects and spent way more time at work without even thinking about it. We ended hiring more devs and moving to an open office environment and everything changed, we all were still clustered together, but collaboration slowly faded away, where we used to turn around and talk to one another we now communicated over IM even though we sat less than 10 feet away, partly because an open office means everyone is interrupted as soon as you talk, make noise, play music, etc.

I always just through it was the growing company that lead to the change, but now that you mentioned your experience and I reflect on mine, I think that little 3 man shared off might have been the key to all of the awesomeness and fond memories of my time with that company.

I too had my most enjoyable work experience when office'd with 2 or 3 other people. We grew close, shared music and work ideas, and I felt comfortable. We had our door open most of the time, but if it got too loud, we'd close it.

Everyone in the company was setup this way, even the CEO shared an office with 3 others (only one other exec). It was a great atmosphere.

>> . I find them depersonalizing and my ADD kicks in with people constantly walking by/around me.

I don't know if I have ADD(never been tested for it), but that's pretty much how I feel with open offices. Extremely irritating... So I left a cool startup for big enterprise, atleast where I can get my own cube.

I like your office design.

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