

Gabor Cselle, Xobni: The Xobni Office, and Thoughts on Startup Office Space - adamsmith
http://www.gaborcselle.com/blog/2007/11/xobni-office-thoughts-on-startup-office.html

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gibsonf1
Very nice approach to your office. One note though - in the last picture I
noticed a smiling Xobniite with three monitors with his back to the window.
I've found that the ideal is to face the windows for a couple reasons. The
first one is that the glare from the windows on the monitor can be very
annoying . Secondly, in having the back of the monitor along the window wall,
and the user facing the windows, you can then look up and out the window when
you're thinking about something. This helps you avoid destroying your eyes by
exercising alternate focal lengths and for me, at least, it seems to help with
creativity.

(I also found my office through Craig's List - $1 per sf believe it or not! :)

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breck
I've heard the proper feng shui setup is to have the desks face the door so
you can see people as they enter.

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gibsonf1
feng shui is only useful to the extent that it makes sense, which would
eliminate all the many mystical aspects of it.

For facing the door, if you are in a business where you get many visitors
coming in the door to face, then that becomes an issue to deal with. In that
case, you can slide your desk back to the door wall with monitor backs facing
the window so that you can see people coming in on your side. For coders, I
think being along the window wall makes the most sense as visitors are not a
big part of coding (hopefully)

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tlrobinson
You're forgetting one thing that every software company office needs:

 _whiteboards_

Don't bother with _real_ whiteboards, they're expensive... just get 4' x 8'
sheets of white tileboard from Home Depot for $13. Huge and cheap. I even got
one for my room at home.

Credit goes to this page: <http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000679.php>

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brianr
$13 is an unbeatable price for a 4x8 sheet of whiteboard... do you have any
complaints with it so far? Does it write and erase OK?

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tlrobinson
It writes fine, and erases pretty well. It does leave a faint "ghosting", but
an occasional wipe with some whiteboard cleaner makes it go away.

It's hard to complain for $13. I mean, we covered a whole wall for about $40.

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jamesbritt
The trick is to prep the surface before use.

That means a good solid cleaning with WIndex, and then go over it with that
toxic Expo spray cleaner (DO THIS OUTDOORS!) until you dislocate a shoulder.

We've got 'em up all over the offices.

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trekker7
I think you guys chose the wrong space... PR/advertising can be can be a very
interesting field to learn about :-)

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sanj
I've always felt that having childcare nearby is important. Employees age.
They have kids (yay!). And having something nearby can keep everyone motivated
and employed longer.

