Dan Benjamin recently wrote a post at Hivelogic about how the office environment can impact developer productivity and The Zone. I decided to wait until the end of this week to post a response and my own observations, since our team moved into a new office building last Thursday. This most recent move marks the third time I’ve moved to a different building while working for the same organisation. Starting from a building we lovingly called “The Shed” to the new and very modern offices we have now, each is considerably different from the others.

The little things

The organisation I work for is very large, with developers certainly being in the minority in relation to the number of employees in the business area. As such, we probably get a little less say in how the offices are configured, but the new offices are a 100% improvement over the previous two offices I worked in. Mainly, it’s the little things that have been done, like adding extra power outlets at desk level behind the monitor. We had these at the first building I worked in, but the second building I moved into was older, and they were on the floor underneath the desk. Just thinking about it annoys me.

There are also “snake trays” running underneath our desks at our workstations. While this is just a minor thing, for someone like me who likes to stretch out their legs under the desk, not being tangled up in cables is a definite plus. Just one less daily annoyance like that makes a big difference in my general outlook at work. The cleaner my workstation feels, the more I’m able to focus on my work and not trying to avoid kicking cables under my desk.

Personal space

Personal space is also something I rate highly when looking for The Zone. I’ve been asked before whether I prefer to work alone. This isn’t the case at all. I think social contact is essential to building an effective team and I like to stop and have a chat like everyone else, but when I need to get work done, I tune everything/everyone else out. This usually means putting on my headphones and turning up the volume. I’ve tried to be more flexible lately and turn the volume down or leave one ear plug off when I think someone is likely to come ask me something during a particular part of the day.

When I’m really in The Zone, you literally have to throw stuff at me to get my attention. I’ve had people tell me to turn around via IM because I’ve tuned all distractions out so completely. Having enough space between me and the person in the next workstation makes this easier. For some time after moving to the second office building I worked at, I had a corner workstation with no one sitting in the workstation next door. Personally, this is probably the best setting for me. Not that I have anything against the people I used to sit next to, I just tend to give up too easily and ask questions before I’ve really looked for a solution myself. In my mind I think, «They’re there, it’s easier to ask them than to waste time looking for the answer.», but I’m really selling myself short. Add to that the fact I’m also distracting the other person from working on their own tasks.

Having said that, I don’t quite agree with 37Signals’ view on making half the day alone time without any inter-personal communication whatsoever. What if I really needed to know how to do one last thing to finish my task and move on the next one? I don’t feel comfortable leaving that until the next day when I could’ve finished it in the next 15 minutes after asking someone else for more information. Sure, I could move on and still start the next task, but that loose end is going to annoy me for the rest of the day.

Taking a break

The new offices we’ve moved into have a lot of open break out areas near the area my team is situated. I’m absolutely loving that fact because I can get away from the computer when I’m stuck and it won’t be too hard to find me if I’m needed. There’s also more tables and seats in the tea room, so it’s easier to sit around and chat to people. I think I’ll be taking advantage of the large table in the break out area outside quite a bit to reorganise my thoughts.

In conclusion

I guess I’m quite lucky that the organisation I’m working for takes employee productivity seriously. I’ve thought about leaving quite a few times, but maybe this new environment can be conducive to making new and exciting things happen. The air of creativity in the previous office was a bit stale. It’s a great work environment with great people I learn new things from everyday. I might not be so lucky in the future.