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Comment by rayiner | Hacker News Reader

> The lofty building Jordan Hamad moved his tech-advisory firm into four years ago had the trappings of a startup idyll: open floor plan, polished concrete floors, custom-built communal tables.

Decisions like this make me seriously question the whole idea that our economy is populated by rational actors. Obviously polished concrete floors are a terrible idea in an office. Even if you believe that open plan works, there is no rational basis for having floors that will reflect rather than dampen noise.

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but it fits the decor so well! When investors come, they wow at the decor, and that makes them feel we are worth investing in!

I worked in a highly visible operations center at a particular Fortune 50 company during the first dot-com go-around. Dedicated NOC designed to look somewhat like NASA MCC. Fishbowl facing a common area; very much on display for visiting executives who would often cluster outside the glass and watch Operations Being Done.

The relevant twist: An office manager felt the adjustable height desks weren't aesthetically pleasing. He set them all to the same height, removed the adjustment cranks, and sent out an email instructing us to not adjust the desks or to change monitor heights.

This policy lasted about a week before disgruntled employees with neck pain got in contact with folks responsible for employer liability.

I have never forgotten the lesson that workspaces are not always constructed with employees in mind.

Markets are efficient, not rational.

I think it's clear they are more rational than efficient, and perfect at neither.

Markets != people, last I checked. If you're talking about the efficiency or rationality of a market, you're talking about some statistical measure of the market. If you're talking about one guy making a bad choice of flooring material, that's just one idiot.

What's good for markets isn't necessarily good for people. eg, Slavery was pretty efficient. Takes awhile for people to rise up and explain to the markets they're not as rational as they think they are.

Markets are rational, but rationality is not simple.

Also, communal tables?!!? I don't want to have to constantly deal with your clutter getting over onto my desk.

Depends on the other surfaces. If the ceiling is hang tiles, rough wood, or fabric panels, there is such thing as too well damped. Most rooms have a happy zone of about 30-60% reflectivity. More sounds like a bathroom, but less can be equally unnerving to people. Also, polished concrete is ubiq due to it being cheap, easy, and looking decent for a long time. That 4x4 carpet is not much better, and is the similarly priced, equally soulless, alternative.

One more benefit: polished concrete is way easier to deep clean.

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