Rules for shared working spaces | Hacker News Reader

Rules for shared working spaces

founderware.co

35 pointsdylancollins30 comments

After reading this and seeing some of the comments I am a bit shocked. I've been in a coworking space for about 1.5 years and we survive with a lot of these things happening.

People take calls where they are sitting on phones and on skype.

People have meetings in shared spaces.

People eat all over the place in the shared space (beyond just the kitchen).

We're perfectly able to complain about what perceived wrongs have occurred to us lately.

Nobody is live tweeting other people's shit.

And I've basically seen basically zero issues with all this. Why? I suspect it's because we're respectful of one another and act like professionals. The mere fact you're threatening to live tweet about other people in the office says to me you aren't ready to share space with other people. If you can't handle normal human behaviors such as eating near you, you probably don't belong in a shared space.

I think some introspection is needed on the part of the author.

I think the real secret to working well in a shared space is being mature and actually talking to people to resolve any issues you might have. We all make mistakes, but most are very easily corrected with a simple 'excuse me, would you mind <suggested solution to problem>'. Yeah, that's about all it takes. A screening process for who can join also isn't a bad idea.

Yep. Rule 11: Don't be a prickly, annoying, condescending, passive-aggressive git.

aka. be liberal about your inputs, and strict about your outputs.

The page loading hung for me, so here's a copy of the list:

I’ve been hopping around SF, LA and London for the last few months, working out of a variety of shared working spaces. From a very mixed set of experiences, I’ve concocted a set of rules which make for happy space-sharing and almost no murder.

1. Bitching about your investors, investment deal or remote team-mate out loud will result in gossip, tweeting and you being labelled a moron. Correctly so.

2. Operators of shared working spaces should discriminate heavily against loud eaters. Ideally, everyone should be screened for excessive jaw noise.

3. Assume that your taste in music is shit and nobody wants to hear it.

4. To the person who has an audio plug-in which announces “You’ve got mail!” each time you get an email, I’m coming to murder you with a blunt axe. FOR EVERY MAIL.

5. If you’re bringing in food, make sure it doesn’t smell like a dead badger. I don’t care how delicious it may be.

6. Learn the not-very-difficult ability to speak on a conference call without yelling and I will be your friend for life.

7. Don’t look at me as if I’m invading your space when I cross the room. It’s a shared office. Deal with it.

8. Taking meetings in a shared space is pretty much up there with Point 1. In addition, assume that I’ll also be live-tweeting it.

9. If you make strange mouth noises, have weird breathing or any other bodily function which is somewhat disturbing, you should probably get a private office. Preferably in Mordor.

10. Don’t be a dick to the people who actually run the space. They’re not waiters. Although that would be pretty cool.

I thought it was generally assumed that all noises that come from your computer should either be muted or consumed via headphones. People actually let their computers just blast random noises in a shared place? That's like going into a library and not putting your phone on vibrate while you read a magazine and answer texts every 5 minutes.

Rule 11 - Don't unplug the Ethernet cable from my laptop when I'm not in the office. I have shit running on remote servers via ssh and they aren't always in a screen or tmux session. I'll become very angry and yell at you when you do this. If you do it repeatedly, I'll body slam you in the parking lot.

You have a valid point but the article is about co-working spaces, not open-plan offices.

Not sure what an open-plan office is. I did not use that term.

It's my desk and my Ethernet cable and it's plugged into my laptop. No one else sits at my desk and no one should unplug my Ethernet cable from my laptop when I step out of the office. Period.

Edit: So is an office with three desks (one desk assigned to each worker) an "open-plan" or a "shared working space"? Three people work in that office and they all have a key to the door.

If it's "your desk" where "no one else sits" then it would seem unlikely that you're in a co-working space. If you're in a place you call "the office" and other people have easy enough access to "your desk" to unplug your laptop, it probably has an open-plan.

If none of this is true, you might as well be talking about purple dogs stealing the umbrellas from your hamburger patch.

Coworking spaces (at least Sandbox Suites in San Francisco) allow you to rent out dedicated desks by paying a higher rate.

Most co-working spaces that I've looked into had options for fixed desks. Even if they don't, it might be nice to think you can go get lunch or a coffee without someone taking your desk (or ethernet cable)

Try a menacing Post-It next time.

Obvious question.

Why are they not always in a screen or tmux session?

It seems that your unwillingness to take that precaution has lead to your threatening physical violence on co-workers. It can also turn momentary network hiccups into a much more serious deal than it would otherwise be. Perhaps you should think carefully about that fact.

Typically for me, the answer is that they are not interactive ssh sessions but long Rails migrations running via Capistrano.

Anyone have a suggestion how to use tmux for those?

Instead of running the migration from your laptop, log into a server (with tmux) and run it from there.

I've quit coworking spaces because of the music before. Not only is it annoying, on the occasions when you do need to take a call at your desk, it sounds immensely unprofessional.

(Aside: I wish more coworking spaces had phone booths for that sort of thing.)

Don't eat at your desk. Don't take personal calls at your desk. Just. Don't. There are other places to do these things.

Assume any noise you make or smell you produce will affect your neighbor exactly as if you walked into your neighbor's cubicle and did it right there next to him or her.'Cause that's where you are. Right there.

I find #2 and #5 to be silly on the grounds that no one should be eating in the workspace to start with.

The latter is particularly unworkable for the obvious reason that the notion of what's good and bad in food smell is largely a cultural/invidual taste.

Though, it might be amusing to watch three people complain about the smell of each others nuoc mam, curried chicken and microwave popcorn while the local vegans dash for the exits.

Also, I think all these gripes pale in comparison to my own experience with 3 people hopping on the same conference call, each with their phone on speaker, in the same room.

> I find #2 and #5 to be silly on the grounds that no one should be eating in the workspace to start with.

Why? So long as you're respectful of others I don't see what the problem is.

When I'm eating by myself at my computer, whether at home or a coworking space. Otherwise it's wasted time. I either get work done, clear out email, or do distracting things like reading HN instead of doing it when I should be working.

>Why? So long as you're respectful of others I don't see what the problem is.

There's no objective way to establish what is or isn't respectful. It's really about paying attention and giving deference to the people around you.

I don't see why I'd want to worry about an infinite combination of sound, smell and individual taste when I can solve the entire thing with "eat anywhere you want, except here".

At a company I worked with a year ago, I got a distinct vibe about eating at my desk. I don't think my food was necessarily stinky, but maybe.

11. See 16s

12. Shower, regularly

13. NO POPCORN

FYI, all of these (including those) apply to cube spaces.

This reads like a list written by any number of people in any number of workplaces where they have difficultly working well with others. Some people are pedantic. The way to sort these issues out is to sit people according to their sensitivity to these kinds of issues. Personally, if an office manager (or angry staffer) feels they need to post a list like this it is a sign of a dysfunctional workplace. Passive-aggressive nutjobs overflowing with seething resentment for everyone around them are the last thing you want in a healthy workplace. If you have a problem with someones behaviour, talk to them like an adult.

Honestly, I never partake in any of the listed behaviours but I don't get upset if someone else does. Some people are relaxed and laid back while others are not. You need to find your tribe or just accept that you don't really like to be around other people and move out on your own.

Website appears down, I think this is the same article except on Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/ten-rules-for-shared-working-...

Since the link appears to be down, I assume these are the same rules:

http://www.businessinsider.com/ten-rules-for-shared-working-...

Meta rule that replaces all other rules for any place and any occasion:

"Treat others the way you want to be treated."

The rest will take care of itself.

With all due respect to Hillel, not everyone is bothered or hindered by the same things. Some people can focus with loud ambient noises (von Neumann) and some people can't (me).

Yea or nay: clipping fingernails and toenails? (This one really sets me off for some reason.)

Good god that's a serious nay. Do that in your own home not at the office (unless you have a private office where I can't see it). Personal hygiene should be taken care of before coming to work.

So say if someone is using a nail file would you be offended ? What about whashing hands ? Realy something that does not smell or make noise , what's the problem ? Look away and stop projecting your own programming on other people.

Good point, I should have been more specific and not say "personal hygiene" across the board.

My problem is when people cut their nails in the office let them fly all over the place without cleaning them up. That's the image that came to mind in the parent's comment and it grossed me out.

Essentially, if whatever you're doing involves leaving visible bits of you behind (e.g. nail cutting) please do it at home or in the bathroom at work.

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