

Developertown: Why Houses? - tptacek
http://developertown.com/blog/2010/1/8/why-houses.html

======
jcromartie
Someone must have thought: "gee, how can we build something _even more
depressing_ than cubicles?" This is what they came up with.

Is this a joke? I'm serious. Are they joking? Or is this being proposed as a
good idea?

~~~
spamizbad
Actually Pixar uses something similar for its employees and it seems to work
great. Pixar's are, of course, better decorated and look less like Dickensian
outhouses.

~~~
daydream
This is a good idea, but poor execution in that it's horribly ugly... very
aesthetically unappealing. As you mention Pixar does it way better, and there
must be a middle ground where you have something cost effective yet attractive
to work in.

~~~
mecloran
Agreed that it is ugly. We never finished the first one because we felt that
the nine new ones we are building are much better - they have trim, will be
painted decently, use less whiteboard on the interiors (and exterior), have
bigger windows, fit through our dock door for moving in a few months, etc.

And, yeah, our office space sucks for these right now, but is really, really
cheap. We decided to do it where we are right now to get started with a 1.0
version of Developer Town, but we're moving in 6-9 months to the desired space
(a high-ceilinged warehouse space that will contribute far more to a Truman
Show "town" feel.)

------
staunch
I like Joel's solution better, using really small private offices:
<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/12/29-office.jpg>

Although I don't like the wall of glass he chose. I'd sacrifice some light, to
not be distracted by people walking by all the time.

~~~
alexgartrell
I'd agree w/ you if they all had windows to the outside, but people with the
interior offices would get hosed w.r.t light. Plus I don't actually think it'd
be all that distracting since you can't hear them, only see them.

------
willwagner
I wonder if this passes building codes, fire and safety regulations, much less
compliance with the ADA? What happens when you have a bunch of these and
interview a good developer that's in a wheelchair; pass on him because your
whole team likes playing in treehouses?

~~~
elai
These things are not high off the ground, building miniature on ramps would
only be something like $20 per house. Hell they might be low enough for them
just to roll over it like a speed bump.

------
kowen
I _want_ one!

> _Won't real estate expenses be far higher than for a generic cubicle farm?_

Even if they are a bit higher, productivity must soar compared cubicle-land.
It's shocking and kind of depressing how many tidbits float across those
cubicle walls (my favorite this week: "my hair is so shiny today").

~~~
mrtron
I thought the current trend was to tear down the walls - not build ceilings.

Since when is social interaction between coworkers a bad thing?

~~~
nkurz
Spontaneous social interaction is a bad thing if one is performing a task that
requires intense and uninterrupted concentration. It can be a good thing when
planning, and is generally a bad thing when executing. Are you the rare
example of a programmer who works better with distraction? Or do you possibly
do something other than write complex code all day?

~~~
mrtron
I do write code that requires uninterrupted concentration for stretches - but
I can get into the zone from anywhere. This week I had some of my best
sessions at a loud coffee shop. I don't want to be in a sensory deprivation
chamber for hours.

Lately I have also been working tightly collaboratively on projects for over a
year - and find sitting in the same room with the person quite helpful.
Communication is more challenging than focus - isn't it?

~~~
rbritton
There's a difference between the droning white noise of conversations not
fighting for your attention and having people pester you directly because they
want to ask you a question and have zero respect for your zone. Your coffee
shop is an example of the former, but I believe the parent to your post is
talking about the latter.

~~~
pasbesoin
Also, not everyone is the same. I welcome collaboration, but when I'm working
on my own, I need the isolation.

I don't spend all my time in isolation. But I need to be able to shut the door
and make the rest of the world go away. After a while, I'll open it and come
back out.

The worst is tuning out crap taking place 3 - 5 feet away from me, in which I
have no part. All the more so when it is fellow employees socializing, while
I'm trying to get stuff done and maybe waiting on work from them, as well.

And I agree, when the background noise becomes a din with little in the way of
distinguishable, coherent threads, that's a lot better for me than a
conversation or two, each of which is largely or completely intelligible (if
not always intelligent).

------
kingkawn
I dunno about the feng shui of that thing

------
gte910h
I honestly would love this if the alternative was an open office or cube farm.

~~~
ido
Am I the only person who likes working in an open office more than having
separate offices?

Of course it starts getting significantly less attractive once you have >10
people in the company or so.

~~~
j_baker
This sounds to me more like an introversion/extraversion thing. Introverts
tend to prefer thinking to themselves while extraverts tend to prefer thinking
_off of_ other people.

If you're an extravert, it wouldn't surprise me that you would prefer a
workspace that encourages more social interaction.

~~~
gte910h
I'm an extrovert...and I want a separate office. It has to do with shiny
interesting people not distracting me from code in my head.

------
100k
This company is interesting. They call themselves a "venture development
firm", as in they invest in your company in exchange for equity, like a VC.
<http://developertown.com>

What I'm wondering is, how do they eat? Even if this model did work, it'd be
on a 10 year time horizon like VCs. Are the Limited Partners (programmers) all
wealthy ex-startup people or something? Or do they also charge actual money
for their services?

~~~
mecloran
We take a combination of cash & equity for building startup technology to a
1.0. We then help a startup find a team and transition a stable platform to
the new team. Not a model for a startup founded by hackers who can easily
build it themselves, but for folks with significant experience in a specific
industry, a management team, and a great startup idea who are looking for a VP
of engineering we can greatly reduce their risk. It also reduces the perceived
risk for seed stage angel investors, enabling the companies to raise money
more easily. And everyone who works at Developer Town gets a portfolio of
startup equity instead of gambling for one big win with a single startup.

We just started 1/1/10 - but already have a couple contracts in place even
with a web-site that is still very V1. Feels like some real interest in the
model out there.

------
rriepe
Drop the "house" gimmick and this could be great. I'd like to have a mobile
mini-office, but it really doesn't need the shingles and all that.

~~~
JshWright
I agree. It seems like a lot of functionality was sacrificed to try to make it
look like a shed.

~~~
mecloran
In your opinion, which functionality do you think we lost in making it into an
enclosed house (shed)? The shingles are a little gimmicky, but the roofs are
for a real purpose (sound dampening). Not trying to challenge, just genuinely
curious.

~~~
JshWright
I think less focus on making it like a house would have have let you improve
the build quality elsewhere (I realize this was just a "draft").

The windows seem sort of small, making it hard to communicate without walking
out of the house. I'd rather see a more "convertible" design. Larger openings
(that can still be closed) would be helpful for inter-house collaboration.

I think the mobile enclosed office idea is great, I just wonder if there
wouldn't be some benefit to thinking outside the "house."

As a counterpoint, my wife thinks I'm nuts and that the house design is what
makes it work ("Who would want to work in a rolling box?")

------
jff
Can we get one of those spring-loaded beds that you see in cartoons all the
time? Then at night you just pull it down and sleep. Those 22-year-old
developers don't have anything else to be doing anyway.

~~~
nfnaaron
<http://www.murphybedcompany.com/>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy_bed>

"William Lawrence Murphy (1876-1959) applied for a patent for the Murphy bed
on April 1, 1916 and was granted Design Patent D49,273 on June 27, 1916.
Murphy started the Murphy Wall Bed Company and began production in San
Francisco. In January 1990 the company changed its name to the "Murphy Bed Co.
Inc."

These beds make appearances in movies, as they lend themselves to slapstick
humor in which people are trapped when the bed folds into the upright
position, carrying the person on the bed inside."

------
kneath
Reminds me a lot of OfficePOD (<http://www.officepod.co.uk/>)

I still love this idea, though I see it more as an awesome workspace out in my
backyard that I could escape to, not so much as something I'd want in my
office. Can't say I'm sold on that idea.

~~~
gojomo
I like the look of the OfficePod, and wonder if the concept could be taken
even further, to a tiny but comfortable and optimized distraction-free space
for solo thoughtwork, like programming or writing.

It'd be nearly an isolation-tank -- certainly not for the claustrophobic --
but with a great chair, adjustable surface and giant screens, and total sound
and visual isolation from the surrounding environment. (Perhaps, a floor-to-
ceiling window on a neutral outside scene would be OK.) You'd enter it almost
like a cockpit, for a focused session of limited duration. While there's just
enough space to stretch, to pace you've got to leave.

------
tptacek
Oh... kay.

Best part: "Our houses are designed to roll right onto a standard 53' semi
trailer. With a good laptop battery, you won't even have to stop working! "

~~~
patio11
Its like someone has looked at Google (where The Company is one giant social
services organization for you) or Japanese companies (where The Company is
designed to organize your social life) and decided to one-up them both: now it
won't just suck up your private life, it will give you small simulcra of the
trappings of having a private life to convince your monkey brain that you
aren't actually missing one.

------
Chickadee
Hi, I'm a dev in a wheelchair. I agree with whoever stated this would give a
run against the ADA, for the following reasons:

1\. The standard doors they are using aren't wide enough. No, not even for a
manual chair. You could maybe retrofit the specialty hinges so that the door
opens wider (outside of the frame), but that only works for some manual
chairs, depending on their width. I need at (at minimum) 24" to get through a
vestibule.

2\. If they are using any sort of flooring, it won't support the weight of a
power wheelchair.

3\. It would be impossible to not feel like you're going to back into or
damage a wall - they don't have any turn radius inside.

4\. Even small steps are a pain in the butt. No, ramping it doesn't always
help.

5\. Once they're in the open warehouse space, and have little 'hallways', the
doors will open out into the hall, making it hard to navigate around.

6\. If you manage to get more than one person inside of the wheelchair user's
own house, it will be a tight fit to get anyone else in there, plus a desk,
plus a small chair.

And this is just for wheelies.

Being as how this is one of those careers folks with differing abilities are
able to do well, it would be a good idea to consult with universal design
principles before going any further. On top of that, considering your business
model, you may want it to be friendly to anyone you'd like to rope in as a
client. Your clients might be chair users.

Having said that...

I think it's a creative and fantastic idea. I think it's a fun way to
personalize the office on a much smaller budget than, say, Google. I'd say
finesse the idea a bit more.

------
gruseom
I disagree with their association of programming with "complete isolation". I
find the best programming is a dialectic between collaboration and solo
absorption. It follows that the best programming environment is one that
allows for a fluid alternation between these two modes.

~~~
tptacek
They did address that: the sheds can be arranged in little neighborhoods to
facilitate comms.

------
ojbyrne
So is this a real company? With a product? As people mention below, Pixar does
something similar, and obviously they're successful, in which case it looks a
lot less like wanking.

Which is what this looks like.

------
matrix
This is what happens when someone who just doesn't get it looks at the well-
publicized Pixar workspaces and says "yeah, lets do that!". I mean look at
this thing - it's constructed with the design aesthetics of a garden shed and
then they stuck it in a poorly lit, sterile off-white office (complete with
those ceiling tiles that signal: "no imagination allowed here!").

These people either have no taste, or just haven't figured out that creating a
creative workspace involves a LOT more than just building a cubby house and
calling it good.

~~~
thenduks
You might want to re-read the article.

\- This is v1 of the concept.

\- They're moving to a warehouse with high ceilings to put these in.

------
chaosmachine
This is neat. It reminds me of treeforts and those people living on the Golden
Gate Bridge in William Gibson's books.

------
malkia
We actually had "houses" for a while in our studio (Treyarch) - long time ago.
They were used by the sound designers, and were sound proof (all computers
(mostly Macs) were actually outside).

It was really hot to work in such office - the air conditioner was... isolated
from these "houses"

------
trafficlight
That thing just looks depressing.

