Finally an office layout I like

05 Nov 2007

Over the past 4 and a half years I’ve been part of many moves and office re-organizations.  From my rather brief experience over the past few years, these activities are done with the goal of creating more available space for desks.  It’s rare that they’re done with the goal of improving team efficiencies and reducing barriers to communication.

Until now.

This past weekend the development team went through our second (or fourth depending on who’s counting) office change in the past couple years.  We’ve moved away from the typical rows of cubicles and are now in fairly spacious pods of 4 or 5 people.  There was even space left over to create a developer lounge with couches, bean bag chairs and a fridge.  They’re team-centric so you’ll be sitting with the people that you’re actively on a project with.  Hopefully less running across the office trying to track down your QA resource.

I must commend the individuals that planned all of this out and actually made it happen.  Today was one of the more productive days I’ve had in awhile and that’s after half of it was spent unpacking.  Needless to say it’s amazing what you can get done when you’re in a (quiet) environment conducive to coding.

Even better, now that all the developers are more or less in the same area we’re able to set lighting levels the way we like… which tend to be a bit darker than your typical non-naturally lit offices. 

I should also mention that we’re hiring.