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Comment by _b8r0 | Hacker News Reader

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_b8r0

> We decided to build instead of buy

Meaning they decided to procrastinate instead of working on their product/service.

> we instead chose to purchase solid core doors from Home Depot (~$40 each)

Meaning they instead chose to spend more on something that wasn't designed to be a desk than an actual desk.

From [1]:

Ergonomically, door desks leave a lot to be desired. Keyboards were usually too high. Typing for hours could be uncomfortable. And those angle brackets have sharp edges; accidentally scrapping exposed flesh against those was a mistake that wouldn't be repeated.

[1] - http://glinden.blogspot.co.uk/2006/01/early-amazon-door-desk...

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HN has gotten so nasty. I now find that when I click on "comments" I unconsciously brace myself to find this type of comment at the top of the thread.

You're not wrong, but can I admit that I had the same feelings the top commenter had? I'll happily tack on the other admission that those feelings probably had a lot to do with jealousy.

I tried to edit after I made the comment as I read it and thought it was a bit harsh, but sadly couldn't for some reason.

My point was that all of this takes time, and doesn't sound like something a lean and mean startup would do. Buying doors at $40 doesn't sound lean, the time spent instead of working on the product/service doesn't sound lean. There's an opportunity cost that should be factored in and they could've saved a load of money and time by buying the furniture second hand.

Having said all that, it's their business and not mine, and if taking time out to build these desks won't disrupt their schedules or revenue stream then it's up to them if they want to do it. Personally I'd never allow it anywhere I work, but time's much more important (and billable) in my industry so their mileage may vary.

Of course, they now have something tangible with their time that reminds them of the day they built their own desks. If there's value in that then more power to them.

Absolutely. It is so easy to poke holes in somebody project, blog post, etc, and takes some contrarian angle. I just don't quite understand why they get voted up to the top.

It might be because people on HN are beacons of productivity who find that these atrocious projects take away from the reams of value that could be created otherwise by working on the product.

This is why they don't read news sites during the work day. Oh wait ...

people like to feel smugly superior.

> "Meaning they decided to procrastinate instead of working on their product/service."

If they were truly procrastinating, you've got a point. But that's hardly implicit in having spent time and energy on a desk. You can't work productively 24x7. You need downtime.

And those desks, not to minimize the effort they did put into them, don't look like a huge time investment to me.

As to the ergonomics, sure: ideally you want adjustable desk height and some way to get monitors to a comfortable height. But how often have you found those qualities in the sub-$40 desks you'd have them buy?

Protip: Buy office furniture second hand, especially in a downward market. The resale value of office furniture is atrocious. There's plenty of office clearance companies all over the place that will sell you high quality office furniture at low low prices.

And how much of that office furniture that makes it to the clearance companies matches the ergonomic preferences for a computing desk?

To put it bluntly: I don't think I've ever seen an adjustable height desk with a raised stand for a monitor in an office environment. Consumer home-office furniture are lousy with those features. But for most office furniture, you're lucky if they buy a $10 wooden monitor stand or if the desk's adjust more than they need to allow for leveling.

You'd have to haunt the clearance company to actually score a good desk and I still doubt you'd be walking away with one for $40.

Setting up a good work environment is a worthwhile investment. When you're going to be working somewhere for 8+ hours a day for the foreseeable future, setting it up to maximize your productivity is not procrastination.

Curious; why was this downvoted?

Totally agree!

Well, as long as we're on the criticism train...

Problem 1: no link to main Cloudant page from the blog post.

Problem 2: at least 2 broken links to their products at the bottom of the page: (Big Couch, Private Cloud both give 404s)

Slightly sloppy; not that big a deal. But people might see.

Wow, you're totally right about the links. You caught us in a transition to new web properties, embarrassing. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Actual desk tops are much more expensive, around 2x the price for an equivalent area: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/wor... I'm not sure about the whole rounding the legs off thing, but if you're going to make 20 desks it's probably not that big a deal, and it does make the legs a lot nicer.

And it's interesting that you're ignoring the Aeron chairs - or are they worth spending money on?

Update: My bad, they're actually Progrid chairs from Costco, not Aerons.

Thanks, the rounded/tapered legs are a surprisingly important addition. Staining them would be wonderful, but that's more time intensive than staining the doors.

We offer Aeron chairs if folks want them. I tried the ProGrid (~10 way adjustable) chairs from Costco Business on a whim (I was stocking up on water cooler, fridge, etc). Costco has a great return policy, so no pressure. I've found them very adjustable and comfortable, so far no complaints or requests for an Aeron here. I should note that we got the mid-back version and it's a bit short for our 6' 6" @chewbranca.

For your next lot of tables, you might want to consider rounding the table tops slightly too. That way they don't dig into your wrists quite so much - plus they'll match the legs.

I'd like to think that we addressed many of the ergonomic issues of the generic door desk, but time will tell.

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