
What is your ideal office? - johnrob
I was thinking about how I dislike the current setup at my job.  We have desks instead of cubes in the main open space.  Many folks dislike cubes, but I miss the illusion of privacy they create.  I hate distractions, and the open desks only cause more of them.<p>Other than cubes, it's nice to have access to a clean shower and be in an area where you can run.  A kitchen is essential too (fridge, sink, toaster oven, microwave).
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dkokelley
My ideal office would have an ocean view, be close to everything
geographically but never have any traffic congestion. Preferably the top floor
(or at least a corner) of a large building with everything I need located
inside of it (bathroom, shower, couch, kitchen). There would be two desks. One
would be facing away from the large glass window (where the ocean is visible
from) so that I can interact with the people who come to visit. The other desk
would be against a wall (maybe a corner, or even a small hallway shape) where
the real work gets done. In there I would have my computers, printers, and the
other essentials. The couch would face the ocean, but rotate to face the flat
screen TV. Scratch that. The Couch faces the ocean and when I want to watch TV
the window is covered by a drop down wall with the TV inside of it. I'd also
have a bed so I could stay the night comfortably when necessary.

As you can tell, I think it's healthy to dream big.

~~~
pchristensen
What, no girls fanning you with palm fronds and a little chamber music
quartet? :)

~~~
dkokelley
Hmm. Good point. But I do need to be productive at some point. Maybe if the
question was expanded beyond "Ideal Office" I could include those.

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Xichekolas
A 12x12x12 private office (I'm 6'5", so high ceilings are a definite mood
enhancer).

One wall is entirely glass, looking over a shaded garden with the Ocean in the
distance (probably on the side of a mountain here).

The wall to the right of the window wall is a bookcase.

The wall to the left of the window has an extra long couch (that I could
actually fit on) to sleep. That wall also has the door.

The wall opposite the window is at my back, with my 72x40 inch desk in front
of me. On my desk are three 24 inch Dell LCDs, each running at 1920x1200. My
chair is a Herman Miller Mirra (fully loaded).

Behind me and to my right is the door to the en-suite bathroom, complete with
shower and closet full of clothes and a kitchenette (with tap that has Dr
Pepper, Cherry Coke, Boulevard Wheat, Murphy's Irish Red, and Guinness).

Behind and to the left of my desk is a door to a wiring closet, where all my
computers and stuff are.

The carpet is black and deep like grass, and all the lights are LEDs.

Between the window wall and the desk is an extremely comfortable recliner and
table (for reading).

Outside the office itself is a common area with doors opening onto all the
other offices (of my brilliant fellow coders). The common area has couches and
big long tables for collaboration. At one end is a recessed movie-theatre-esqe
area for group presentations and movie nights. At the other end is the
entrance to the building.

~~~
Xichekolas
An attempt at a rough diagram. Common area is to the left of this image.

    
    
       .___________window____________.
       /                             |
      /                              |
       |                reading     b|
       |                 chair      o|
       |c                           o|_________
       |o                           k| b       |
       |u                           c|  a      |
       |c         deskdeskdesk      a|   t     |
       |h         deskdeskdesk      s|    h    |
       |          deskdeskdesk      e|     r   |
       |              chair          \      o  |
       |                              \      o |
       |_____________________________|________m|
       |      |
       |wiring|
       |_clos.|

~~~
edw519
Upmodded for ascii image hack alone. I love how he uses slashes and
backslashes to show that the doors are opened. lol

~~~
Xichekolas
I'm at work, it was bound to happen. hehe

~~~
mrtron
I absolutely love the deskdesk and the sort to show that it is the desk, and
the size of the desk.

On that note, I love huge desks...that are mainly empty. But that probably
relates to my insanity.

------
staunch
One with great colleagues that help, inspire, and challenge me. Everything
else is optional.

~~~
bootload
_"... One with great colleagues that help, inspire, and challenge me.
Everything else is optional. ..."_

Do you need other people to give you the core motivation & challenge to get
things done? Individualism is at the core of Startups. Individuals first, team
second. Why? Because designing & building stuff is a pretty much a solitary
task. Sure you can have a team to assemble the bits. But in the end it's
really down to how well one individual does particular job, task. You will
fail where individuals fail, regardless of help by other team members.

    
    
        where failure is the norm an ideal office is not optional
    

The ideal workplace is an important concept for Startups. It's where you do
your thinking and execute your ideas. Your thoughts are your product. The
better the ideas, the better the product. Poor workplaces, no matter how good
the team or individual is toxic to good thinking. A good workplace can be like
wearing safety kit doing a dangerous job. It shields your thoughts from
unwanted distractions. Filters the environment of distracting noise. It lets
you get on with the job not having to stop, cough your lungs up, wipe the crap
from your boiler suit every time you sit at your keyboard. Another concern. If
you want to keep your co-workers, fellow hackers on the job, the office has to
be close or a lot better than their own house. [0]

You have lots of hurdles in a Startup. An ideal, even good workplace is a core
concern. It is not optional.

[0] This is a Phil Greenspun idea on building and keeping good engineering
teams. There are a whole lot of good practical ideas here ~
[http://philip.greenspun.com/ancient-history/managing-
softwar...](http://philip.greenspun.com/ancient-history/managing-software-
engineers)

~~~
mixmax
Thers's a reason most successful startups have two or more founders.

You don't build greatness yourself, you do it by leveraging other people.

~~~
byrneseyeview
I'm not sure anyone has ever accomplished _anything_ when they set out to
"leverage other people."

~~~
mixmax
I'm not sure anyone has ever accomplished anything when they have not
leveraged other people.

~~~
Xichekolas
I'm not sure anyone has ever accomplished anything arguing about leveraging
people (whatever that means) either...

~~~
mixmax
You win :-)

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watmough
A large room with a desk, computer, sofa. In an old country house in the UK.

<http://xara.com/gaddesden/>

------
edu
I like desks instead of cubicles, if the office is silent (no phone calls). I
like to have near some healthy foot (mainly fruit, coffee, milk, water and
juices), and a shower appreciated.

Yesterday I was talking with a colleague that it would be also great to have a
small room to relax/sleep. Sometimes, when I'm blocked or with headache a
quick nap (20-30min) is magic.

Of course, good coworkers is a must!

~~~
pchristensen
+infinity for nap room

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bootload
_"... What is your ideal office? ..."_

Hmm couch to the left, bookshelf in front. Large table. Places outside to walk
and think.

    
    
           a quiet place that's a 
           leap and a bound from 
           a keyboard & monitor
    

Close to food, kitchen, stereo, whiteboard. With all these things I can move
from idea to code quickly. Having said that it's a fair hike from the city
central. Read these articles to rate your own environment: [0]

\- <http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html>

\- <http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BionicOffice.html>

[0] btw I add these references not because of _"who"_ wrote them, but the
quality of the descriptions.

~~~
sbr
i'll take a desk or a cube with a brick alley view where i can sit whenever i
want to (within reason) over a pastoral mansion that looks at me funny when i
show up at noon.

~~~
bootload
_"... i'll take a desk or a cube with a brick alley view where i can sit
whenever i want to ..."_

I'll agree with the place you can sit anytime. But views are important, to me.
I'm not sure why but having something natural to look somehow improves my
thinking ~ <http://flickr.com/photos/bootload/1270954109/>

------
dcurtis
I think Connected Ventures has the greatest office in NYC, followed by
SkinnyCorp in Chicago.

Slide is packed like sardines, and Facebook has no style.

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trekker7
Something on the beach, with an ocean view.

~~~
reitzensteinm
We're on Waiheke Island in New Zealand:

<http://www.waihekeweek.co.nz/logo4.gif>

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johnrob
I have a theory that the day to day experience of at a company is what
makes/breaks people's moral. If people like their environment, they will want
to support the company that provides it. Normally one would assume that things
like salary/stock options would be bigger motivators, but in reality those
things are just numbers on paper and in bank accounts. And they don't make a
bad office suck any less. The 8+ hours a day spent at the office are concrete
and you never get them back. Few things are worse than not enjoying them.
Obviously, there are plenty of exceptions, especially for people who have
financial obligations to support non-work things. In this case people are
probably more driven by financial opportunities.

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icky
Short commute, good free snacks and food and drinks and tea (and soup!),
within walking distance of lots of good restaurants, great coworkers, minimal
distractions, no politics, flexible hours, occasional telecommute (but not so
frequently that the office becomes a ghost town), free parking, great view,
stacks of all useful computer books near your workstation, room to walk around
and stretch, trust-based environment where you can leave all your stuff at
your workstation and not worry about it, plenty of whiteboards available,
freedom to personalize your workspace.

My new job features all of these (except soup! :'-{ ), although the commute
could be a little shorter, and the hours a little more flexible. ;-)

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omakase
Some place so boring I can do nothing but work all day everyday. As well as a
full supply of water, gatorade, tea, crackers, pizza pops. A big desk, a pile
of books, one or more whiteboards, my stereo/headphones, and of course my
laptop.

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samwise
This is my startup setup. We have arcade games and every employee is given a
30 tokens a week to use on vending machines, air hockey, pool table and other
games. It's their choice to use them all at once or spread out over the week.
They can even hoard them and save them up. That way they are in charge of
their time. We even vote on new games to be added as we reach milestones.

~~~
bootload
_"... We have arcade games and every employee is given a 30 tokens a week to
use on vending machines, air hockey, pool table and other games. It's their
choice to use them all at once or spread out over the week. ..."_

What tokens, you gotta be joking. How bl%*dy lame is that? The best fun I had
at one Startup was playing the pin-ball machine and pool table. More mileage
was taken in the press with a single pool table than the cost it took to put
them in. More work, ideas & fun were generated around that table & arcade game
than any meeting. Except the ones at the pub.

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dkokelley
Hmm. Maybe just this:

<http://www.stefandidak.com/office/>

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ojbyrne
This may sound weird, but I've come to prefer lying face-down on the floor
with a laptop in front of me. I think it's because that's how I did homework
as a kid (in front of the TV).

So my ideal office would have to support that.

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wehriam
Lots of different places to work - from a 24" monitor attached to the MBP in
the "office" to the Eames lounge in front of a big TV. Add the coffee shop
down the street and I'm set.

Note - don't forget about ergonomics!

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wallflower
Ideally, a home office with a lakefront view. But I'd settle for elements from
Adobe/Flickr as shown at:

<http://www.officesnapshots.com/>

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dous
I kind of prefer desks instead of cubes and I'd really like a huge monitor
that I can plug into my laptop. Plus, free food and drinks. :)

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ken
I'll take the real privacy of an office over the "illusion of privacy" offered
by cubes any day.

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edw519
Doesn't matter as long as there's an All You Can Eat Chinese Buffet within
walking distance.

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nextmoveone
something cool is wiki.coworking.info where you can collaborate with other
hackers to share space.

my ideal office would have alot of light, a plasma, a couch, wifi and a
wireless keyboard amd mouse.

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nextmoveone
something cool is wiki.coworking.info where you can collaborate with other
hackers to share space.

my ideal office would have alot of light, a plasma, a couch, wifi and a
wireless keyboard amd mouse.

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NoBSWebDesign
Port City Java.

