The Perfect Office
Comfy Chair
Some of the customers I am working for have an extremely crappy office environment. On the other hand the office we work in at LINEAS are rather nice. This contrast makes me realize how big a difference a decent work environment is. After all: how important can you and your work be, if you don’t even get a descent space to do your work. So if you are a boss who likes to treat the employees well, here is a list of ideas for you. If you are an employee in a crappy office space you can at least start dreaming.
- A good chair. No the best chair money can buy. The spine is one of the weak points of the human anatomy. And we software developers are treating it extra rough. Even extremely expensive chairs pay themselves once they prevent a couple of days sicktime of because of back problems. And these sick day come in batches of weeks or months.
- A table that can be adjusted in height so you can switch between standing and sitting position.
- Extra quiet computers
- 3 big or2 extremely big screens. Most of the time I work with two pretty normal screens (effectively 2980 x 1024 pixel) , but if I am forced to move to something smaller I notice the loss immediatly. So I think an effective resolution of 4000 x 1500 should be pretty nice.
- Huge white board, actually I would like a double white board that allows to move one whiteboard way up, and write on the other one. Just like the blackboards at the university.
- Nice Bookshelf, 1 meter wide, floor to ceiling filled with books, I’ll compile the list of books later.
- Colleagues, two or three of the smart sort, for lively discussion about technical problems and the last ‘Dr. House’ or TED video.
- Window with nice scenery to the left from my place. Facing north, so no direct sun light.
- Coffee machine and printer on the other side of the (not to large building). Does walking there count as exercise? At least it will keep me from drinking 2 liters of coffee a day.
- A corner in the office should be separated a little by some plants. There I would a have a comfy chair and a stereo with head phone. It shouldn’t be to far from the book shelf.
- A phone with headset. Allows for working on the phone and on the computer at the same time
What did I miss? What should your office look like?
Great list. I would add these:
A door you can close. For software developers, it’s really important to be able to work in peace when needed. A distraction makes you drop out of the zone, and it could take fifteen minutes to get back.
I would, in fact, forgo the colleagues _in my room_. Instead, I’d like a large, light, nice common area with a soda vending machine (free, please, Dr. Pepper, please), a pool table, a ping pong table, nice sofas, lots of magazines, and so on.
Any keyboard and mouse you want. No company standard build cheapo keyboards, thank you very much. Developers can choose whatever they think is best, with the possible exception of gold-plated diamond encrusted keyboards
Daily cleaning. Don’t touch my stuff, though!
Hello Jens,
nice list but I would like to add a tabletop football game
Sometimes you need a real break. There is no better way for it like to play a little game with your colleagues.
I also need the right room temperature. Not to hot in the summer (a ventilator would be nice) and for sure not to cold in the winter.
Last but not least a (very) fast broadband internet connection. I hate to wait for downloading new Microsoft RTM ISOs.
Take care,
Matze
Food and drinks all day time available for the workers.. minimum fruits and sparkling water and cokes … I have this since I moved to Switzerland and I cannot image a working environment without such comfort… when you are working and you think to eat something, you are just few steps from your chocolate or fruit or drinks..
It is a must-have feature in modern offices – IMHO.