Comment by jasonlotito | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jasonlotito | Hacker News Reader

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* In our conference tables, we have about a dozen Macbook magnetic plugs so we don't have to change out ours.

* Each TV in the conference room is hooked up to a computer, so you can quickly log in easily (and since pretty much everything is done via the web, we don't have to worry about hooking up our laptops).

* Whites boards are treated as RAM, not Storage. Your phones have cameras now, use them!

* Office supply stations are just filled with stuff. Lots of batteries, mice, keyboards, etc. It's rare we run out of stuff (to the point that I don't really know if it's happened).

* Also a big push to move everyone to laptops and Mac monitors, so we can easily move around.

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At home, I'm less successful. Mostly, with a 1 year old and a 3 year old, anything we put down has the potential to move. That being said, some simple things:

* Having the laundry room be in the second floor.

* Keep the vacuum cleaner parts for the carpet on the 2nd floor.

* Toilet paper distributed to every bathroom. We also have baskets with additional rolls next to each toilet within easy reach. That way, even if the roll runs out, we have 3 or 4 right there.

Having the laundry room be in the second floor.

FYI, the main reason laundry rooms are usually in the basement is risk of flooding. In a basement with a concrete floor with a drain, flooding isn't much of a problem but on a higher floor it could cause very expensive damage to the surrounding space, the floor itself, and anything in the basement underneath.

I'm sure for some reason the tradeoff is in favour of the second-floor laundry room, but the basement laundry room certainly doesn't count as artificial.

I believe the building code says anything on a higher level needs the washing machine to be in a basin, with the basin connected to a drain. (At least that's what I've heard)

It's going to depend on which building code you're dealing with, of course, but that certainly sounds plausible.

I don't think I'd want to place any bets on how often that particular requirement actually gets satisfied, though.

We have that exact setup. A little basin around the washing machine, and a drain. Simple enough, really.

> Whites boards are treated as RAM, not Storage. Your phones have cameras now, use them!

This sounds like whiteboard space/time is a scarcity you haven't shown to be artificial. (I'm not saying your approach is wrong, just that it doesn't fit with the theme.)

It is a partial solution. There is no amount of conveniently accessible whiteboard space which will not fill up with "save" boxes if such a rule is not in place. Public whiteboards should have a simple "no saving state" rule.

Do you know anyone who has experimented with using SyncPad [1] on iPads to entirely eliminate whiteboards? I have been looking at iPads because the low-end models that would be used as dedicated whiteboards are about par in price with the Wacom tablet models that have a built-in screen. As I don't need all the fancy pressure sensors and such that artists need, iPads seem a more flexible device to use.

The only concern I have is working with wall-size diagrams on an iPad. There are many architectures and diagrams that have so many parts it simply just takes up a large amount of drawing space to hold it all.

These days, I make do with LiveScribe for my own notes and copy of what is going on at the whiteboard, and an accompanying snapshot of the whiteboard at the end of the meeting to attach to my LiveScribe notes.

[1] http://mysyncpad.com/

No, don't know anything about it. Altho we're talking about getting webcams and pointing them at the public whiteboards, and arduinoing up a "push button to save" device that will have the cam snapshot the board and email it appropriately. Slightly over-complicated, but more fun than just phonecams and therefore more likely to actually be done :)

"Keep the vacuum cleaner parts for the carpet on the 2nd floor."

In my experience, one vacuum cleaner per floor works way better. It gets rid of most of the "oh, it's on the per floor; I will do that later" cases.

Having the laundry room be in the second floor.

Hell yes! When I lived in Denver my bedroom was on the second floor and the laundry room was in the basement. I had always lived in coastal areas where basements were rare, so I didn't know what a PITA it would be. After 2 years of dealing with that, never again.

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