

Ask YC: How important is comfort to your productivity? - brandon272

Hey YC'ers,<p>I find that me being comfortable (always having a good cup of coffee, good chair, good lighting, clean work surface, good smell in the air) is paramount to how productive I am.<p>Am I just being a prissy and demanding developer, or do you just have to have that cup of Starbucks (or Tim Horton's!) before you feel that you can be truly productive?
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cmos
A purring cat on my lap chills me out. A second cat on my desk helps me debug
+ does all my proofreading.

The perfect playlist keeps us all in rhythm.

I play the same playlist every day. I find this helpful to make it more
'background', and I always pick songs that recall a particular 'happy' time.

When the cat's get bored and want to go outside, that's always a sign I should
take a walk. When they start to get hungry later in the day it is time to feed
them and to check my voice mail. And when I hear my chillout song,
"Everloving" by Moby, it's time to close my eyes and just relax until it's
over.

Listen to the environment around you.

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jrockway
My cat annoys me while I'm trying to work. She wants to tip over my mug of
coffee or walk on the keys. When I put her on my lap she wants to crawl up on
the desk and play with my headphone cord.

I try to do most of my work while the cat is asleep ;)

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davidw
At times, I think it's inversely proportional. Quiet is good, but sometimes
being in an environment that's a bit rough around the edges is helpful to
staying on task, rather than relaxing.

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silentbicycle
You may want to take a look at DeMarco and Lister's _Peopleware_ for several
studies along these lines. There's a lot of focus on how having a comfortable
and _quiet_ (i.e., not distracting) environment relates to productivity.

Some people could code in a wind tunnel, most people probably can't.

I personally focus better with a comfy chair, a good keyboard, two monitors,
tea, headphones (or earplugs), a whiteboard, and enough desk space to lay out
notes. Oh, and _absolutely_ good lighting.

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eyudkowsky
I can't do creative work without air conditioning. Sad but true.

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jrockway
That's not sad.

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froo
I find that one of the biggest things towards determining my level of
productivity is really related towards the time of day that I'm working.

That is I find that my most product times during the day are mid mornings and
late at evening when trying to write code.

So I try to ensure that this time is free for doing the nitty gritty stuff,
and I ensure that I make meetings and whatnot for the afternoon.

Thats just for me personally though, the best way for you to ensure you're
productive is just to try different things and figure out what works for you -
and then capitalise on it.

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bjclark
It's everything.

Sometimes I try to work from coffee shops or sitting in a bad chair (one of
those folding ikea chairs) and it's awful. Can't get ANYTHING done.

In fact, I think my single best purchase for my business was a Herman Miller
Mirra chair. Keeps my butt and back happy.

If you're thinking about anything other than your work (like you're cold,
hungry, or uncomfortable), then for sure, it's going to impact your
productivity.

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jmtame
I would say that if it makes you productive, then keep doing it. When I code,
it can sometimes be very stressful, so I'll go to lengths to try and balance
out the stress by creating as positive of a workspace as possible. But don't
fixate on it too much, otherwise you're losing productivity ;)

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bdotdub
Personally, I don't think I NEED to be comfortable, as long as I like what I'm
doing.

But sitting in a cafe with good music never hurts :)

(I do wish I had cmos' debugging cat.)

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vaksel
All I need is a good computer that doesn't freeze, good chair, good music and
some junk food/water bottles and I'm all set.

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saurabh
Doesn't increasing the comfort levels in the workplace to very high levels
make people sleepy?

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wlievens
My back hurts no matter what chair I use. It's quite limiting to my
productivity.

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noodle
its more based on personality, in my experience. you sound like you know your
personality and know what you need to be productive. congrats; not everyone
does.

