I’ve been thinking a lot about offices and work environments recently. A lot of people are getting interested in the coworking phenomenon. There’s also the recent discussion about Jason Calacanis’ article about saving money when running a startup (and the 37 Signals response).
Additionally, I know a handful of people who are in the process of changing their work environment. My friend Dan Cederholm recently opened up a new office (and he’s hiring a helper monkey, too). Some of my past-coworkers in Austin, Texas are researching office space, and a local team of developers here in town recently made a transition from working at home to working in an office.
And of course, there’s my own situation, working from my home office with a new baby in the house. I feel incredibly lucky and privileged to be in this situation, and although there are certain challenges with this arrangement, they are easily outweighed by the incredible benefits.
But I’m in the minority here. Most people’s work environments, most typical offices, are actually harmful to the ability of developers, designers, writers, and other creative people to get into The Zone (see below).
Think about it: you’re hiring somebody who needs to concentrate to be productive, and then you’re putting them in a situation where they can’t.
Why is this? It has to do with something called The Zone, and if you’re a creative person, you already know exactly what I’m talking about.
The Zone
Getting into The Zone is almost like getting lost in a good book. You’re sitting comfortably, you have your favorite beverage in hand. The house is quiet and you’re without distraction. You’re reading, the book is great, you’re engaged in the experience. Uninterrupted, you could continue like this for several hours without even noticing the progress of time – and without feeling like you’re exerting any real effort.
This is what The Zone feels like, but instead of reading, you’re creating.
Most people who create things will enter a state of mind where the activity of producing something, the act of creating, become effortless (or at least easier). Writers often describe the sensation of their hands flying across the keyboard, words coming out without pause or difficulty, the message clarifying before them on the page (or screen). Artists often describe a similar sensation, as if their brush was being guided by their subconscious mind. And although many people think of software development as a kind of science, there is a great deal of creativity involved in writing code, and it works the very same way.
Unfortunately, most people can’t simply step into The Zone. In the very same way you’d want to find the right time and place to read a book, creative types need to setup the specific conditions they need to enter The Zone. For some people, this might mean listening to a certain kind of music. It might be fueled by caffeine and a dark room late at night. Some people work best in the silence of the early morning. It all depends on the person.
Now compare this to the typical office scenario. Most cubicle-style offices are plagued with distractions: other people’s phone conversations, music, and discussions. The annoying neighbor hanging over your cube wall, dangling his coffee-cup, talking to you about his new sofa. People shouting in the conference room next door. Big bells ringing when The Closer makes her sale. The incessant bellowing of the VP as he storms through the halls, entourage in tow, blackberries clicking.
You can’t turn these distractions off.
The so-called “open office” is even worse. Instead of giving people the imagined, mock-privacy of a cubicle wall, you’re exposed to the world on all sides, without shelter, without a place to focus. Entering The Zone becomes darn near impossible.
There’s no choice about how or when you’re expected produce, or under what circumstances. Here is your computer, here is your workstation, you have the tools, the florescent lights are turned on, why don’t you go ahead and get to work, thanks, bye.
You probably wouldn’t chose to read a book under these circumstances, but you’re expected to do your very best work and be your most productive this way.
This won’t be news to most employees in the jobs I’ve just mentioned, but it often surprises me that so many managers and operations officers have such a big misconception about productivity in relation to how these people actually work.
Of course it makes sense why corporations work this way, but that doesn’t mean that this is the right setting for creative people. The corporate world rewards based on perceived productivity rather than accomplishment. People who arrive at work at 8am, take a 30 minute lunch break (at their desk), and leave at 6pm are usually congratulated regardless of their real accomplishments, while those who struggle with corporate schedules but produce brilliant work (delivered on time) are often penalized.
So what do people do? They wear headphones to cope with the distraction. They deal with the lack of privacy. If they have an office door, they shut it and risk being labeled a pariah. In a best case scenario, they do a mediocre job and feel OK at the end of the day. In the worst case, they’re miserable.
Creativity doesn’t always happen on a predetermined schedule.
Don’t get me wrong – offices do have some incredible benefits, especially on a social level. There’s something to be said for getting together as a group, brainstorming, working through a problem on a real whiteboard, seeing people’s expressions. In-person communication helps people feel more connected, more a part of a team. It’s a big part of team building. It’s even more important when you’re doing things like Pair Programming, or working very closely with another person on your team.
But generally speaking, working in a group office is usually not essential. I’ve spent many years working from my home office with colleagues in different states and countries, both in leadership roles and as a member of a team. We rely heavily on instant messaging, collaborative software, and phone calls to get our work done. And not only has it never been a problem when working with other virtual team members, it’s been a huge benefit. 37 Signals talks about this in Getting Real – Alone Time. In an article about his Bionic Office, Joel Spolsky writes about the effort he put into creating an office that’s supportive of the way developers work.
This is a big subject, and there’s plenty of room for different opinions. What do you think? What’s your ideal work environment, vs. what you have right now?
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Angelo
29 March 2008 at 10:31 am
We have recently moved from an open workspace to individual offices. It took a bit of time, but it’s certainly much easier to focus and get into the ‘zone’ now.
Interestingly, I’m one of two full-time design types. Most everyone else is focused on ruby programming. I get the impression that however much focus I’ve gained, they have at least matched if not greatly surpassed that point.
Chris Bowler
29 March 2008 at 10:35 am
I think a mix of both is the best. There is no doubt that most larger companies do not require their employees to get ‘in the zone’ every day and the atmosphere makes sure they don’t on a regular basis.
But it’s also important to remember the necessity of face-to-face interaction. Someone who only works from home every day, often starts to suffer. Even if they are doing something they love. So a mix of both is what I’m looking for.
Robert Dempsey
29 March 2008 at 10:41 am
Like you, I am fortunate enough to work from home and have more time with my wife and daughter. Home is the most comfortable place for me (and for most I hope) and where I am the most productive. Getting out every once in a while is good too, but for the most part I have everything I need along with lots of windows. I am also able to effectively lead a team of 8 developers, who all work from home as well. I worked in a rather windowless office before and will never go back to that.
When the ADS CREW needs to get together we use the ADS War Room and are around a single table. Otherwise, online communication tools work a majority of the time. It’s all about having the right people on board to be able to work in this way, as well as a matter of trust between employer/employee.
This is the ideal for me, and what I have right now. I am a lucky man.
Gary Byrd
29 March 2008 at 10:41 am
Dan,
This is a brilliant article. I enjoyed every bit of it and agree with you on all of the major points you brought out.
I have already forwarded to some of my friends and colleagues who will benefit from reading.
Thanks
Gary
Jesse Newland
29 March 2008 at 11:02 am
I’ve been lucky enough to only work in a ‘real office’ for a couple months of my professional career. The ability to control my own work environment is something I’m not sure I could go without at this point.
I do, however, sorely miss the free coffee ;)
Ged Maheux
29 March 2008 at 11:23 am
I have to say I’ve done both: worked at home alone for over a year, and worked in an open office at the Iconfactory. After having experienced both, I would *never* go back to working at home. You might be able to enter “the zone” easier at home, but it gets old fast. You’re isolated, you must depend on only yourself for input and ideas, you can’t easily have tangent conversations that sparks imagination. And no matter what anyone will tell you, there are just as many distractions as home as at work.
We’ve worked as a “virtual company” with Dave in Sweden and Craig in Laguna for over 10 years now, and I have to say it’s worked, but personally I would much rather have Dave and Craig in the office in Greensboro than not. They probably wouldn’t agree, but that’s because they like where they live, not because they like working alone.
The sheer joy and support I get from being able to call Corey or Talos or Anthony over to my desk and asking them about something I’m working on cannot be underestimated. Sure I could send them an image via iChat and ask through IM, but it’s not the same. Also when deadlines press and clients need emergency changes, its much easier to gang up on a project when you’re all in the same building/room than it is when each team member is alone in a studio or bedroom halfway across the world.
To each his own however, and if you like working in the cone of silence of your home, then perhaps Twitter and iChat and the phone are enough for you to feel connected. Been there done that, and no sir, I don’t like it.
Dan Benjamin
29 March 2008 at 11:24 am
@Ged - ahh, but you guys don’t work in a Typical Office (as I’ve described above). You work in a Creative Office ... and there’s a huge difference - something I’ll tackle in an upcoming article, unless you beat me to it ...
Travis Cripps
29 March 2008 at 12:15 pm
I agree. The right office setting is essential to productivity.
Tsega Dinka
29 March 2008 at 12:19 pm
Dan, great article and definitely one I grapple with on a daily basis.
I currently work in an office and not a day doesn’t go by when one gets distracted by elevator “dings”, phone calls, IMs, giggle and such but on the other hand the benefits to be face to face with a group and bounce ideas back and forth is immeasurable to me.
I have in the past worked full time at home and I do it now in addition to my day job as a designer. And the thing I have noticed most is that new ideas get better polished and solidified in group settings while on the other hand, the grind of working on something is usually better done in a more secluded environment. For now, I go the headphones route when I need to focus during the day.
One additional point that I think hasn’t been mentioned is the quickly changing priorities when working in an office/corporate environment. Not a day goes by when half way through a design, some higher priority project comes up or additional changes get communicated about what was in progress to interrupt the flow that someone could have been in the middle of.
Travis Cripps
29 March 2008 at 12:35 pm
One more thought…
Yyour article is right on the money. I’m most productive on my couch late at night. It’s not because it’s the best work environment per se, but because there are no distractions.
Richard
29 March 2008 at 12:56 pm
Cubicle hell for me. I’m there right now, in fact, on a Saturday afternoon in sunny Melbourne (FL) with my kids keeping me company. :-/
We supposedly do Agile, but from everything I’ve seen, it’s the same sort of reactive crisis management I’ve seen other places in the last 20 years. Priorities are reshuffled daily, and sometimes hourly, and we’re all interchangeable cogs. But I digress…
The ideal office environment recognizes that context switches can be incredibly expensive and supports a mix of focussed “zone” time and collaborative “tribe” time. When in the zone, disruptions should be minimized: no email, no phone calls, no IM. When with the tribe, it’s all about communication.
Being involved in stabilizing a heavily multithreaded service in C++ at the moment, I see an analogy: thread pools and message passing are better than relying on locks (and dealing with deadlocks and livelocks).
Anyway, that’s my $0.02 on the issue.
Rick Curran
29 March 2008 at 1:59 pm
I like having an office space where people can meet together, however I am making more use of online services like Basecamp and Beanstalk in order to make the working process not be contained by the walls of the office.
One argument in favour of offices is for client meetings. We find our clients like the fact that they can meet with us face to face, I’m not sure how ‘professional’ some of our clients would think we are if we invited them to our homes to discuss work! There are many ‘bedroom’ based web designers in our area, mostly doing poor work so it’s a major differentiation for use to be working out of an office.
nap
29 March 2008 at 3:45 pm
I *love* the coworking concept because honestly, working at home, alone—even when you’re in the zone—it can be a drag sometimes. Not having direct contact with other smart creative people every day cuts down the potential for powerful new ideas, imo. It also makes it harder to get a different perspective on a problem. Fortunately we have online communities that help a lot here, but they aren’t complete solutions to the problem. Some things are just better in person.
Anyway, that said, the ideal environment, I think, is something akin to coworking but where I can have a private space with a door, preferably one that opens out onto a common area /lounge and where other people have a similar setup. That way, when you need or want the input from others, you can have it. And when you need to be alone and in the zone, you can have that too.
Most coworking situations I’ve seen though seem to be the fishtank sort of scenario where there are way too many people crammed into a small desk without the necessary creature comforts. That’s the last thing I want and given that as my only choice, I’ll gladly stay put in my comfy home office.
Phil Bowell
29 March 2008 at 6:41 pm
You’ve hit the nail right on the head for me. My dream situation would be to work from home in my own office and with my own clients or with a good friend in the same office. That’s not to say I’m not enjoying working in an office for the first time (I’m a recent graduate) but that Zone seems missing too much. Any tips on finding it in an open plan office would be great.
Justin
29 March 2008 at 7:22 pm
“They wear headphones to cope with the distraction. They deal with the lack of privacy. If they have an office door, they shut it and risk being labeled a pariah. In a best case scenario, they do a mediocre job and feel OK at the end of the day. In the worst case, they’re miserable.”
It’s almost as if your describing my exact, forced upon, work environment.
All my life I coded and hacked out projects at night. Not because it made me feel like I was in a “hacker” movie, but because thats what my brain schedule deemed for being successful in those areas that I work in. Its my “natural”.
Boy do I wish others thought the same thing. I feel like the world I live in is a bunch of micro-managing morning people. Forcing everyone else to work their way or the highway. Where did these people come from, the farm?
Pete
29 March 2008 at 10:26 pm
It’s all trade-offs.
For me the benefit of not commuting, not paying rent, being able to grab something from the kitchen when I’m hungry, and interruptions from my daughter when she can’t wait to tell me something outweigh the negatives of making my home a place of work and not being able to interact in-person with colleagues. I can’t say that there aren’t days I don’t wish I had a hip office to work in, but they aren’t frequent enough that I’d change what I’ve got.
As for client meetings, coffee shops, lunch, or their office have all worked out well for me.
Jorge Quinteros
30 March 2008 at 7:18 am
I certainly agree with Pete in regards to having your home office being a trade off with some things. While you do save yourself the commute and do have the convenience of being in your home and everything at close reach, it becomes difficult when someone can’t create that thin line between separating work from home time.
Cooner
30 March 2008 at 11:36 am
Followed a link here from Daring Fireball, and man, this strikes close to home. I’m not a technical worker, just a bit of a tech geek, but I was an animator at a few studios back in the day, and it never ceased to amaze me (or make me cry) the way producers and office managers thought that setting up a floor full of office-standard cubicles and just sticking an animation desk in each one would somehow lead to a productive, creative environment.
Granted, the thing I most miss about working at studios is working next to other artists, seeing their work, bouncing ideas off each other, really amping up the inspiration between each other. But it often felt like the dreary physical setting of the office space counteracted that, with the low grey walls and flickering fluorescent lights overhead, the telephone chatter of accountants two cubicles over, the yammer between production assistants packaging shipments or hammering out schedules ... and on and on and on. We had to be there from 9 to 5, but more often than not we’d stay late or come in on weekends just to get a few hours of blissful quiet to work in undistracted.
I’ve been working mostly freelance at home for the last several years, and for the last two years I’ve been fortunate enough to have a spare bedroom to set up as an office with my drafting table and computer workstation. It’s still not ideal—I miss the interaction with other artists, and the neighborhood kids running up and down the stairs outside my window are distracting as hell—but it is a lot easier for me to get into “the Zone” here than it ever was at any of the studios.
Martin Pilkington
30 March 2008 at 11:42 am
I think the most important factor for me is a window with a good view. The ability to just stare out of a window when my mind is blank and see a great landscape outside helps recharge the batteries. Of course the window will also bring light with it. In terms of desks and such, the desk I’m using now is pretty much perfect. About 1.5m long and about 60cm deep I can fit my computer, 2nd monitor, speakers, external HDs etc and still have room to spare.
I also like controlled distractions, if that makes much sense. I constantly have iTunes playing and often sing along without actually thinking about it. Working in silence all too often causes me to loose my concentration as the part of my brain that would otherwise be occupied by music is then left to wander off. I’m also odd in that I’m less productive without “distractions” such as email and IM. My mind seems to freeze when I have to work and my internet is off.
Robert
30 March 2008 at 11:51 am
I recently left an open office environment to work at home. The open office was, honestly, beautiful to look at: my former boss had bought an old warehouse, completely renovated it, and built a gorgeous new office for 20 to 30 people. (http://www.aintnodisco.com/2007/10/31/miriello-grafico/) Trouble is, there was about 10 of us, and well, it felt like I was working in an ice cave. “The boss” had his office in a crow’s nest above all of us, and it felt ... well ... kinda weird.
For unrelated reasons, I left there, and I now work out of my bedroom, in what the builders of my condo originally intended to be a closet. I took off the closet doors, popped in a desk, and I have now an honest-to-goodness work area. It’s quiet,
I love it. I love being able to play the music I want to play. I love having my favorite food and drink in the next room. True, I could rent out office space and have a “showcase” location to impress clients and visitors, but I don’t want it to be the focus of my business.
As I found at my former job, the location became more a distraction than anything else. Yes it was impressive, yes it was beautiful, but if your clients are judging your work based on how nifty your building is, there’s something wrong there.
CB
30 March 2008 at 12:22 pm
Just remember, do not sit with your back to the door into the room and do not sit facing a wall. Creativity and focus are helped by placing yourself in the correct flow of energy in the room.
http://www.fastfengshui.com/articles_commandposition.htm
Andy Lee
30 March 2008 at 12:41 pm
Hands down, I was most productive when I had my own office, especially when it had a whiteboard. Second best is working on my laptop in a public place like a Starbucks or a food court, which paradoxically gives me a feeling of privacy through anonymity. Working at home provides privacy but also distractions, though strangely I’m not bothered by distractions at a Starbucks. Working in a cubicle is slightly better than an open floor plan, which for me personally is the worst.
Andy Lee
30 March 2008 at 12:43 pm
Oh, and besides floor plan I’m sensitive to other environmental factors such as lighting and noise. That said, when I’m especially absorbed in my work I can tune just about anything out.
Andy
30 March 2008 at 12:58 pm
I work 4 days a week from home, and one day a week in the office to get some ‘face time’ with colleagues. When working from home I have total control of when and how I work, the layout of my office, and the distractions (or lack of) that expose myself too. Tools like iChat really make it very easy and effective to keep in very close contact with colleagues who I need too - even down the the point of seeing their screen whilst talking them through something.
As for my day in the office - I regard that as a day off, and never plan on getting any real work done ! It’s actually a very effective way of working for me - I squeeze all the vital face to face meetings and distractions into a single day, and have the luxury of 4 days in which to concentrate and crank out the work.
Derek K. Miller
30 March 2008 at 1:12 pm
I worked freelance from home, and occasionally on client sites, for several years, and I prefer the semi-open office environment I moved into in my current company. But the company is mostly programmers, and isn’t as loud or distracting as some others.
I think the key thing is not necessarily the way the office is decorated or organized—though that is important—but how the company values its employees and their work. If the company measures success by work accomplished rather than time at desk, things are better.
Of course, I’ve been on medical leave for cancer treatment for more than a year, so I haven’t been too productive lately. :) I do get into The Zone working on my hobbies at home, though, sometimes late at night in bed when everyone else is asleep.
Steve Sabol
30 March 2008 at 1:19 pm
In a previous life I had graphic design roles for a large greeting card company, an accounting firm, and a web development shop. Now I am on the sales desk for a large insurance company where we develop insurance plans for clients that involve just as much creativity and problem solving as any development or design work I’ve ever been exposed to.
I wholeheartedly agree with your premise… that perfect working conditions produce better quality.
One day, while watching my Cleveland Browns take on the Buffalo Bills in a horrendous snowstorm, it hit me: superstars find a way to win no matter what the environmental distractions. We ridicule the hermetically sealed Dome games. We mock the Super Bowls played in perfect sunny 72 degree conditions. In the stands we scream and yell for the express purpose of making the visiting team’s job harder. In baseball every park is dynamically different. These elements of randomness, of distraction, ADD to our understanding of what makes a player and team great.
On the flip side this mindset could simply come from growing up in the midwest where we wear our inches-of-snow-this-year as a badge of honor and still discuss the Great Blizzard of ‘78 like it was the Normandy landings.
vanni
30 March 2008 at 1:23 pm
What chair do you have in your office? I am in the market for a good quality office chair.
Matt Elliott
30 March 2008 at 1:55 pm
Fantastic post. I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic in relation to Generation Y and the shifting workforce dynamic. Most employees these days are either collaborating (sharing ideas) or creating (developing ideas), but yet we assume that both these functions can (and should) be performed in the exact same space. It’s a broken dynamic, and a lot of is the result in managerial thinking that can’t get over the whole industrial-era “hours put in = more work done” equation.
I’ve written a more in-depth response at my blog.
Matt
yworking.com
David
30 March 2008 at 1:59 pm
Dan,
I agree with the points you make. You will find that many of them and some more were made by DeMarco and Lister in their 1987 book “Peopleware”
Richard
30 March 2008 at 2:31 pm
Dan, this is a great article and a great starting point for useful discussion.
I’ve been self-employed for 20 years and while I thought I knew what my ideal conditions were for getting into my personal zone they’ve changed over the years as I’ve changed.
I need both: a healthy dose of sensory deprivation-like quiet to go deep into a thought, and the bombardment of visual and aural stimulation one finds in a place like New York City to prime the thoughts.
What’s amazing is that I live in rural Connecticut in a very peaceful place but I do my best reading not at home, but on planes. Maybe just the right amount of white noise and no phone (yet).
Michelle
30 March 2008 at 3:17 pm
I so dislike the idea of office jobs; they tend to be completely devoid of the large amount of human contact I seem to need in order to be functional. (I worked many office jobs before going to college.) This is different that being a social butterfly. I don’t have to be socially engaged much of the time; I need to hear the interaction of other people like you wouldn’t believe. The thought of having another office job fills me with a kind of bitter unhappiness, an abhorrence. I think the only office-type job I would even consider is if most of that job didn’t require me to be near that office/cubicle most of the time.
I’m a grad student, tutor, and teacher right now. The office jobs I had motivated me to go back to school because I knew I just couldn’t survive in the office world.
Daniel Ferguson
30 March 2008 at 3:23 pm
I understand exactly what you mean by “the zone” and how important work environment is. 5 months ago I quit a job in a crowded, windowless open office to work from home as a contractor and I couldn’t be happier. I feel sorry for my former coworkers who are now stuck in the tiny cubicles that were built because I complained about the open office. Too bad management completely failed to understand the need for developers to be able to concentrate and have a reasonable amount of personal space while working.
Benjamin Doherty
30 March 2008 at 3:36 pm
It sounds like The Zone is another name for flow, a psychological concept proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi.
James Duncan Davidson
30 March 2008 at 4:13 pm
Having worked in every kind of work environment from the soulless cubical land to a private office to home to the cafe—and now doing some of my work on location as a photographer—I think there are definitely different kinds of environments that work for different endeavors. For hacking code or writing, being in a place where flow can happen is essential. Like others have commented, I’ve found a great place for that is the cafe. There are people around, but you have a fair degree of privacy.
In many cases, the people that you have—or don’t have—around you when you work is critical to the work that you do. Some combinations of people are just a bad mix when it comes to trying to get into flow.
And then, sometimes there’s a time of day consideration. I used to think that I couldn’t work in an office environment because of the office environment. Then, I learned that there are some kinds of work I just do better at 10pm to 2am. I wish it weren’t so, but the nighttime is an excellent time for some people to get things done. Now if there were just more good quality cafes open at 2 in the morning.
In any case, everyone is different and there is no one size fits all solution. If you’re a manager of developers, being flexible is essential.
Dave Greiner
30 March 2008 at 5:28 pm
Great post Dan, we recently underwent a big office move with the sole aim of reducing distractions and maximizing the chances of getting in “the zone”. I wrote about our process of moving from open plan to closed offices, with some photos of the process here:
http://www.freshview.com/thoughts/2008/01/creating_the_ultimate_office_s.html
I also think it’s important to balance the alone time with a bit of interaction with the rest of the team. To ensure this happens we introduced free catered lunches for all staff, which has been great to bring everyone together at least once a day.
So far the results have been really positive.
Chris
30 March 2008 at 7:04 pm
In my office you can tell when a big management meeting is happening. The place is dead quiet with the lower level employees doing their work. The greatest source of distraction is the bloated core of middle management that my company has, and it’s part of the reason our stock price plummeted from $15 per share to a measely $2.50 per share.
I do like have the other developers on the team in close proximity to me, because when someone gets stuck on a problem there’s usually someone else right there to help get it fixed.
You also hit the nail on the head about people who try to get real work done in their own way being labeled as trouble makers. I’ve received many negative comments about my wearing of headphones to drown out the background din. My productivity in the space is fairly high, and I enjoy my immediate colleagues, but in most other respects I’m miserable at the place.
Garrick Van Buren
30 March 2008 at 7:47 pm
Dan, great post. I’m 5 years into working out of my house and have a hard time imagining working elsewhere. For the reasons you state - I have far more control over interruptions and other environmental factors (even w/ 2 small kids) than I do in someone else’s office.
Your office looks pretty comfy, though personally I’d have a hard time staring at a brick wall all day. I’d probably turn the desk 90 degrees and look out the window…..unless the view of the brick wall is better.
Clark MacLeod
30 March 2008 at 9:47 pm
Largely where you work best is based on your personal characteristics. Finding out what works for you and how you deal with your ‘weaknesses’ (for lack of a better word) affect how happy and productive you are in your particular workspace
For me getting in the zone is in theory far easier now that I work at home. I love the lifestyle and avoiding traffic. I love being able to cook dinner for my family and I love the freedom of going out whenever I can without worrying about how someone else might perceive of my absence. No office politics. No wasted time in department meetings.
But my God it’s lonely. IM and email are not humane forms of communication. I miss how much I received from the people I worked with - they pushed me to be productive, they inspired me, and they provided a social outlet. I have found that I need people to be productive and to be inspired. When alone Google and the seemingly endless questions in my mind hamper what should be a perfect opportunity to get things done.
The only reason I continue working at home is the lack of employment opportunities and my own stubbornness to achieve on my own what I used to as part of a group.
The Other Pete
30 March 2008 at 10:17 pm
It’s all very well and good to talk about The Zone. You can even talk with your manager about it, and s/he’ll pay lip service to it. But that’s as far as it will go. The fact is that your manager (really the organization outside engineering) by definition has emotional needs which cannot be met in a way compatible with The Zone. To be frank, this kind of weakness disgusts me, but I must cope with it in other people. The only hope is to take matters into one’s own hands. Wearing headphones is the only approach available to most, but working at home is really the holy grail. Get into it and never let go. It works for me and it works for my employer—even though it will never understand this—they just think I’m Superman—how sad is that?
Andrew Wilkinson
30 March 2008 at 10:18 pm
Great post Dan, I couldn’t agree more. I’ve experienced a variety of office spaces (home, office and cafes—not to mention Dilbertian cubicle farms) and find that I’m still most productive working from home. We recently ditched our expensive office and, despite most of our team being in the same city, started working almost totally remotely. Our productivity has increased three-fold, we’re billing far more hours than before and we’ve managed to go from nightmarish 10 hour days (most likely due to illogical “who’s working harder” brinksmanship) to super productive 3-5 hour days in which we accomplish the exact same amount of work in short creative bursts.
Last summer we saw each other every single day at the office, and while it was nice to catch up and talk over lunch, there was little value in the team being together in person. Instead of sending someone a quick IM, or Basecamp message to be dealt with at the person’s leisure, we were constantly tapping each other on the shoulder, yelling across the office and creating a distracted work environment. That being said, I do see the value in the social aspects of an office despite the distraction it causes. To make up for this lack of interaction we casually meet up at our favorite local cafe whenever we need to work in tandem or brainstorm for a project - it works out great and we actually look forward to seeing each other.
With the money we’ve saved since getting rid of our office we’ve been able to invest in a growing number of in-house projects and create some automated income streams for the company. If you think your team can work remotely, I’d recommend it to anyone.
“Creativity doesn’t always happen on a predetermined schedule.”
This is another thing about corporate workplaces that has always baffled me. Before I started my own company I worked for a local design firm that was vehement about employees arriving on time at 9AM. If I came in even five minutes late I would receive a flurry of disapproving glares from my boss (who despite running a web design firm didn’t know fundamental HTML) and no matter how much work I pumped out I was made to feel inferior to the 7:30am keeners. When will companies realize that the number of hours you work in no way reflects the amount of effort exerted? If the work is done and they can bill for it, why should anything else matter? Would you rather have a sleep deprived night-hawk employee working at 20% productivity or somebody who comes in later in the day - or even works nights - at their prime?
When you know you have an 8 hour day ahead of you there’s really no incentive to work harder or faster, only to get through enough work to prove that you’ve paid your dues. If it’s between 8 hours of distracted tinkering and ripping through a day’s work with 4 hours of focused time in the zone, I’d gladly take the latter any day.
Trust is paramount with this kind of work environment. I think a lot of employers feel like they need to police their employees and make sure that they’re doing what they should be doing at a given time. This is a totally flawed approach. If you hire people that you think will steal from you - whether it’s billing for an hour while they go for a massage or swiping office supplies - then you need to find new employees. I don’t doubt that occasionally my team forgets to hit pause on their time tracking, but they *want* to be productive so they can get on with the rest of their lives. Your employees will undoubtably appreciate the freedom and as a result become more invested in their position in the long term (people want to hold onto good jobs) and be far less likely to grudgingly charge you an extra four hours for being a pain in the ass.
Dan - I know you spend a lot of time on the phone, don’t you find this cuts up your day into small pieces? Do you set aside a part of the day that’s distraction free (email, IM, phone, meetings) or what?
Jared
30 March 2008 at 11:58 pm
I’ve been working from my basement office for about a year. I love it. When the weather’s nice I can bike over to our “showcase” office space and jump in a cubicle. For me it’s the best of both worlds. When I get lonely at home, and start making my own interruptions, I head over to the office and enjoy the conversation and interaction a bit. When I feel like I’m not getting anything done there anymore, I head home for a few days, and get focused.
Marco
31 March 2008 at 6:28 am
I’ve worked in corporate cubicles, government offices, freelance in-house assignments - and it was always the same. Your day was almost entirely composed of coffee breaks, inane meetings, lunch, and goofy chit-chat with folks who weren’t interested in doing their jobs. You got so little done, that you either had to take work home, or nobody cared anyway. And it seemed to be the way of the world.
Then I stopped going “in”. I worked in a livingroom, then a converted bedroom, and eventually a completely renovated basement with three employees - in my home. I worked insane hours for ten years, but saw my kids more than many parents as a result of being there. In contrast one of our employees commuted 2 hours every day.
Recently we bought the adjoining semi-detached house next to our own. Now I “leave” for work through an attic door into the upper two floors of a bright and airy much larger studio where I continue to have a couple employees, can meet with clients and even have additional space for photography and a private office.
Our commuting employee now works from home - and love it. We share resources and info with IM, video chat, and use web-based scheduling and time tracking. I still almost never leave the studio, except for exercise. I have suppliers I have worked with for years - and have never met in person. We send very few couriers now that document exchange is almost ideal digitally, and our overhead seems to keep coming down. I drive my car less than 10K kilometers a year.
I’m lucky. It fits what I do for a living - I just wish more of the rest of the world could work this way.
Josh Kieschnick
31 March 2008 at 7:09 am
Thanks for this post Dan! I work both for myself part-time and have a full time job in a cubicle type situation. The headphones definitely help me get in The Zone when I’m there.
Oddly enough, sometimes it feels like I can be more productive at my day job than at home. I am still searching for what the perfect environment is for me and have yet to figure it out. Your post has inspired me to really put more effort into figuring out what that environment would be. Up until now, I have forced myself to just do the work regardless of how I feel which leaves me feeling somewhat unhappy.
It’s a vicious cycle which causes me to feel even less motivated the next time I sit down to work on a project.
Adam Michela
31 March 2008 at 8:28 am
How about a good picture of your home office Dan? From the close-up’s of your monitor and your statue it looks like a great space.
beth
31 March 2008 at 8:56 am
Amen! My office just switched to a open “collaborative” workspace. The ultimate irony is as devs it’s not very often we have to work with each other (outside of meetings) typically we have to collaborate with business and IT who are in completely different buildings. So lowering our cubicle walls only served to add to the distractions.
It’s hard to work comfortably when everyone is staring at the back of everyone else’s heads. At least with 4 walls taller than the average person one doesn’t have visual distraction and can attempt to drown out the auditory cacaphony.
I think large companies should encourage all employees to work remotely whenever possible. Who isn’t more comfortable working from home? The truth is most people would be more productive in their home office but companies want to police your productivity and measure it with artificial indicators.
Sal B
31 March 2008 at 11:35 am
Amazing article!
We’re struggling with this situation now at my company. We’re expanding our department from 2 of us to now upwards of 10-15 in the next month. We’re now in our own space down the hall from the main offices, yes, down the hall.
We’re still in cubicle’s facing the corners.
I’ve sent my boss emails regarding creativity and office spaces and how they are connected. When I read about the part where people are rewarded based on in/out times and not production, it totally reminded me of a conversation we just had about our offices.
How, “you guys can have the fun, cool office when you start putting out really good work”. Well, it’s kind of backwards, in my opinion.
Again, great article!
Jesse
31 March 2008 at 11:45 am
I sucked when I worked from home. I’m much more productive in an office, measured by actual documents written and posted on the website, training materials produced, good ideas shared, new projects developed. Different strokes and all. But where I work is also quite reasonable: one co-worker heads to the beach when he has to do several hours of writing and we don’t begrudge him a couple of days in the sun because we know he’ll come back with something great. Yeah, I think we’re in a “Creative Office”.
One thing my open plan workspace company did was build “phone booths” and all calls longer than a “yes/no” take place in them. They can also be reserved by anybody who needs an uninterruptable period for writing. (The booths are very small rooms with a desk, keyboard, monitor, phone, pad of paper, not too comfortable chair, blank walls; I suggested the walls should be whiteboards or at least have whiteboards - perhaps next time).
Greg
31 March 2008 at 6:04 pm
Nice narrative Dan. I’ve had this open in my browser for days to remind me to read it when I found some “quiet time”.
When I first entered the freelance world almost seven years ago, I somehow had the misconception that I had to have a physical location and ran out to rent office space. I found that more distracting than working out of the house and ended the lease ten months after signing it. I have since worked out of a home office and have found the karma that is required day to day.
When the wife and teenage son are not home, I’m free to roam and work wherever I find peace, but when this is not available I have a nice cozy (tiny) office in our third bedroom.
I have thick curtains in the office that I can close when things get distracting outside and have my XM satellite running through my iPod docking station to feed some soothing Jazz or Classical music. I keep my guitars hanging on the wall for quick access. I find them useful for replenishing creative juices or relieving stress. The only thing I wish I had was a nice little sitting chair for reading and research.
I “try” to keep the office clean and distraction free, which isn’t always easy. Just this last weekend I purchased a smaller desk in order to streamline my work life and the good old Ikea desk will be sold soon. I have found that a smaller desk that fits snugly is easier to keep clean and not use as a inbox, not to mention it give me more room in the tiny space I use.
For times when I want some companionship while working, I let the dogs (my German Shephard and Golden) in to lay next to the desk.
I can’t imagine having to go back to working in a office environment. I remember what it was like with coworkers always within arms reach. I don’t know how I ever got my job done back then.
John
31 March 2008 at 7:06 pm
There is a great deal that I identify with in this article. The “open space” of many agencies just doesnt work (for me at least). That type of layout is usually discribed as “just like the dot.com days where ideas can flow between people unhindered.” Or in other words, its cheaper and takes less floor space to have rows of deskspace that are uninterupted by cubicle walls or offices. I have yet to find someone in this environment who genuinely enjoys it.
When I try to get into the “Zone” or simply talk with a client, the last thing you want is all the noise and distraction of your co-workers talking to each other and thier clients 2 feet away from you. Yes, headphones are huge in these circumstances.
The ideal in my mind is everyone has their own private/semi-private space. One place I worked at had cublicles with tiered walls. The front walls near your computer were high to give you some privacy but you could roll back in your chair to where the walls were low to discuss things with your neighbor.
Or give everyone their own completely private space but offer nice community areas where people who want to get that “energy” of working with others a place to do so.
But to force everyone into a open space, looking over your monitor to the person across from you and being shoulder to shoulder with your neighbors… that is just the facilities manager trying to save some money.
Now, that being said. I have worked from home off and on for over 7 years and I can say I have completely used up all the “culture” of my home office. There is something to be said having physical spaces for work (even your own sub leased cubicle somewhere) and your private life. Otherwise work and your real life seem to blurr together in a way that is driving me back to the full time work world.
twobyte
31 March 2008 at 8:46 pm
John, I with you. Same kind of experiences.
JamieC
31 March 2008 at 11:46 pm
Great post, Dan. The best part: seeing your return as an author. We miss your writing!
We had several IM and phone discussions on the home vs. office debate, so you know that on this topic, we’re not aligned like tater tots. :-)
I agree “The Zone” is best in one’s ideal setting. In fact, I’m home now cranking away without any distractions except having to move laundry to the dryer. Contrast that with the typical chaos of the startup day.
However, as much as I can appreciate the calmness of working from home, I’m still stumped why every major corporation in the world brings its people together in office buildings and campuses. I’m not saying that makes it right, but it is curious to me when companies like Google and Apple that arguably have both:
(1) the resources for people to work from home and
(2) a team that’s technologically adept at doing so
still invest in physical infrastructure to put everyone in the same room. There must be some inherent advantage that offsets the entropy caused by the “office” model.
Could Jobs and Ivey created the iPhone with a remote team? I think there’s a social component of work that motivates people as much as the distractions reduce their performance. You just can’t enjoy a lunchtime baseball game if you’re all in different cities. :-)
jan
01 April 2008 at 7:00 am
I work in a mixed environment on a floor with about 100 people doing a whole range of jobs from phone service to admin processing to development work.
The place is an open plan zoo with concentration and motivation destroyed for all but the ‘widget processing jobs’ by about 10am.
Hours of listening to people plan their weekends, chastise their children and discuss at incredible length and obnoxious volume about how the breaktime card club is going.
I get about 3 hours work done per day, 5 hours is a huge achievement. This just analysis and spec writing. Not creative, just requiring concentration. For our bosses to think that this is a smart way to spend their money requires, as one of my fellow suffers in this fluoro lit hell puts “Incredibly large quantities of no idea.”
The programmers get about 2 hours work done per day because the sheer volume of noise and physical interruption prevents the meaningful thought they require.
For those bemoaning their soulless cubicle consider the salivating envy I experience at the prospect of not having 9 people with 2 metres of my desk talking at the top of their voices about total mind-killing garbage. The stimulation of clever people requires both cleverness and an environment that allows clever thinking. We have a reasonable amount of mental horsepower but the sheer horror drives even the good ones to behave like farm animals to join in and give up. Trying to think in this environment is psychosis inducing.
And lets be clear. I have one of the best desk in this little world with a jaw-droppingly beautiful view out picture windows that I sit against. I am not suggesting this office doesn’t look OK from the glass walled offices that the bosses sit in (with closed doors) when they aren’t out shouting encouragement across the scrum of crassness that passes for worktime.
The fact that productivity is in the toilet is a small wonder to them but any attempt to suggest what the problem might be is scoffed at and produces some motivational roughhousing amongst the desk to ensure no productivity for another hour or so.
My hearing is being damaged by music at ear-achingly loud volume which still fails to drown out the skrawtching of the woman in the next desk reading out the contents of her screen to the world (everyone for 10 metres around hears even though no-one is listening). With dividers at shoulder height every single idiot statement that these people make (and I make) is shoved straight into the cerebal cortex of everyone in the vicinity, driving out any higher level thought. I usually whisper and still 6 heads will turn, unable to make out the words but aware speech is happening.
Next time you want to complain about your cube consider those of use who would give up significant body parts to have what you’ve got. A home office, an impossible dream (until I get out of this mind-numbingly stupidly run company).
Dan C.
01 April 2008 at 7:40 pm
This article beautifully articulates the one major issue I’ve got at my job. As many here have said, nobody, especially in management, really understands (or cares) what it means to crank out something truly inspired with just a few uninterrupted hours in “the zone”. They would rather have you spend hours in totally inane meetings than actually producing what they are paying you for.
One thing I’d like to add is the fact that not only does a few hours in the zone seem like reading a good book, one also gets the same intense feeling of personal satisfaction. There is nothing at all quite like it. Why those up the food chain from me don’t understand what they are losing by making me take months instead of hours to finish something important is totally beyond me.
Anyway, there is some comfort in knowing I’m not alone here. Thanks for the great article.
Meagan Fisher
02 April 2008 at 1:11 am
I have to confess it Dan - this may be one of my favorite Hive posts to date. Mainly because, as others have echoed, it speaks so closely to how I have always felt about work environments. Especially poignant is the comparison between getting into “the zone” and getting into a good book; I find my best work happens while I am in my lumpy coffee-shop chair, quilt on lap and my crappy cup of Folgers in hand. There’s something about being at a desk - maybe the looming threat of a phone that could ring at any moment with the dreaded conference call invite on the other side, or the coworker or three pretending not to look at my screen while I pretend I’m not checking Twitter - that makes the same work I loved to do at home feel excruciating in the office.
The idea of co-working makes me sort of ill. I think it takes a very special place and the right amount of chemistry for me to be truly productive in the presence of someone else, and the chances of that happening in a crowded room of strangers is null. I suppose it could be appealing to the people who want to break free of the “I’m a Mountain Dew fueled programmer playing WoW in my Mom’s basement” stereotype, but to me it seems strange to pay money just to know there are other warm bodies within an arm’s reach while you write code with your headphones on. And sure, we all get lonely / bored at home from time to time, but isn’t that what user groups / conferences / coffee shops / pubs are for? Why pay for the same diversion from home you could get for free (with no commitment) at the public library?
Anyway, I gladly join the ranks of those who value the freedom that comes with working in an environment of your own design, and second Dan C. Thanks for the great article, Dan B.
Daniel Lord
03 April 2008 at 11:52 am
“This won’t be news to most employees in the jobs I’ve just mentioned, but it often surprises me that so many managers and operations officers have such a big misconception about productivity in relation to how these people actually work.”
That’s because, Dan, you make an erroneous assumption that ‘many managers and operations officers’ just don’t understand this. It is common sense that this environment lowers productivity—that’s why libraries enforce the quiet. It is rather that you aren’t considering that they have more preferred ways to increase productivity while still saving money by packing employees into confined spaces—namely enforcing the longest work hours and least vacation in the industrialized world out side of Japan.
Xander
03 April 2008 at 9:02 pm
After reading your wonderful article, I started thinking about the ‘optimal work zone.’ The more I thought, the more it seemed like what you described was true… then I remembered what it is like to have a small team, say, two or three people. With two or three people working together, a friendship is usually formed. With friendship, people can divvy up tasks depending upon their strengths and what they wish to work on at the moment. There are not too many people getting in the way and it is still possible to enter the ‘zone.’ If it was possible to have a business consisting of many workrooms, each with a team of two or three people, I think it that would be very productive.
Robin Kemp
07 April 2008 at 1:09 pm
I think it really depends on what kind of work you’re doing. In my old job (TV news writer), there were 3-4 “pods” (teams of writers surrounding an editor), with various newsgathering desks in different zones, all in one big newsroom. There were edit bays, a copy/print room, studios, and tape checkin-checkout around the perimeter. This made sense because people had to communicate rapidly and constantly. Each of us worked independently, but we all functioned as an interdependent team.
In my new job (English instructor/doctoral student), 8 people share two desks in an 8x8 room with a door that closes. That’s up from 4 last year. We try to schedule our office hours around each other as much as possible, which gives everyone at least some chance of getting work done, meeting with students privately, etc. This is difficult because, theoretically, we are living “the life of the mind” and need to think, read, and write about single ideas for longer periods of uninterrupted time. As a result, I am writing this from a coffeehouse, where I am wearing earplugs and sharing a table with two strangers. I get more done in the coffeehouse than I do anywhere on campus—including the library, which is full of loud adolescent chatter and cell-phone inanities even in the “silent” zones.
Why not work at home? Well, my living room serves as living room and two adults’ offices. It is also Grand Central Station for animals, workmen, and other family members.
If I had the cash, I would rent out cork-lined rooms for creatives seeking quiet workspace. I’d be a millionaire.
iHanna
09 April 2008 at 4:54 pm
Awesome thouths! I’ve never thought about the workenviroment in this terms of “a zone” but I really like it and will have to consider it more in the future. Love your analogy with reading a good book - so true! Love when working feels like that and a comfortable chair and good light sure is helpfull! :-)
Alex Rudloff
10 April 2008 at 12:30 pm
Great post, Dan!
Jon Mossq
11 April 2008 at 3:59 am
Great post and very interesting to read all the comments!
I had office hell for nearly 9 years - awful mobile ringtones, inane chatter and disruptions galore. I found it very difficult to concentrate even being senior enough to have a cubicle rather than sit in the open office mosh pit!
After the 9 years, I realised that I had had the life sucked out of me, my creativity crushed and my confidence dented. I am certain the office environment didn’t help. I hated it.
I am not working for myself at home in small room, it is better, but needs some work. We are hoping to have a garden office built sometime, so I can open the doors and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air (this is pretty rare mind you in NE England!).
Cheers!
Boris Gloger
12 April 2008 at 5:07 am
Office spaces can be creativity zones. But most of the time the people in the office are not creating but hanging around. If the team works together on one problem one case there is not better thing than bringing them together. Most people work isolated on “their” problem. And then you need a distraction free zone.
Chris Bailey
16 April 2008 at 4:22 pm
Great article. I agree in so many ways. I like the tie ins with Calcanas’ post, and 37 Signals response as well. I too have strong opinions on some of these things, after having worked at home and in corporate offices, etc.
I’ve written up my thoughts on all this, in case anyone wants more on the subject: http://codeintensity.blogspot.com/2008/04/working-at-home-zone-and-importance-of.html
Bob Peterson
16 April 2008 at 5:04 pm
I started when we were an early startup. I missed by one week working out of the CEO’s mansion’s top floor, but went directly into closed door offices. It was great. We grew and migrated into a cubicle farm, but that was mitigated by a window desk and having so much space we were scattered. We continue to grow, and now the cubes are 6’x6’ and the walls lower.
Management’s point is to encourage unplanned interactions. Overhearing some important point a bystander ought to chime in on. But… we all wear headphones. And aren’t there better ways to cowork than by making every stray conversation a distraction from productivity? I hate these cube farms.
I was self-employed from home before I came here. I managed to get business partner face time aplenty.
Dan Benjamin
18 April 2008 at 7:40 am
Thank you all for the great comments. Lots to think about.