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Comment by erlanger | Hacker News Reader

I still don't think that "doors for desks" is the right way to treat your employees, no matter how bargain-crazy your vision.

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I don't think you understand -- doors make terrific desks!

The point of the door desk is more than just saving money on a desk. It serves as a constant reminder that you should not spend money on something that does not help your customers. You can argue that this is a bad way to treat your developers, but most people would agree that a desk is a lousy way to spend money instead of, say, having better technical equipment.

Developers are still people, and people do care about aesthetics.

Can you link me to this "doors for desks" thing? This argument's interesting, but I can't say I've ever heard of this before.

Doors are large, sturdy, finished pieces of flat tree-product. They are very cheap compared to material intended for counters, and are available used for free. They already have a hole (doorknob) for you to put your cables through.

For legs you can use some combination of: shelving, filing cabinets, sawhorses, brackets+lumber, and a-la-carte legs.

At my parent's software startup they used doors for desks for their whole 20-year run. Be careful though -- with great surface area comes great responsibility! Once my mom's desk clutter reached critical mass, it stayed that way for 15 years (18" deep in the back, 2" in the front).

Basically all desks and tables at Amazon are still door desks, based on the company's origins:

* http://glinden.blogspot.com/2006/01/early-amazon-door-desks....

* http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/85/bezos_2.html

It is questionable whether in the age of IKEA, the door desk is still truly frugal, but it is a very tangible reminder of the principle. Very tangible, very sturdy.

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