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Presented here[^]
I was doing a little research after reading some of the replies in Keith Barrow's Is there a name for this?[^] thread from this afternoon.
The idea presented pretty much exactly matches what I think, and also is very much like what I used to have.
Now we are open plan, and with new smaller desks and feck all room at all, which is about the worst possible environment for software development.
We're also right next to the entrance to the kitchen area, lots of distraction early after some eejit tried to microwave a rich tea biscuit and filled the office with smoke.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
Shed Petition[ ^]
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Maybe you should start a petition. That seems to resolve things quickly.
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I think maybe I should get a job where the bloke in charge doesn't come from a support background.
The smaller desks pushed me over the edge.
Just need someone to give me a job with a big desk, loads of money, and to let me do what I want.
Should be simple enough.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
Shed Petition[ ^]
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Why is everyone against developers having an office. I have an office, it is wonderful. Having a war room that we can get into a group and hammer stuff out is nice, but if you need that to be standard operating procedure, you are doing it wrong.
CPallini wrote: You cannot argue with agile people so just take the extreme approach and shoot him.
:Smile:
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Obviously I'd love my own office where I could shut out the stupidity, but that is unlikely to happen any time soon. The vast majority of companies in the UK just don't have the space.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
Shed Petition[ ^]
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I understand the lack of space, and that it is not always possible to have separate offices for devs. I don't understand why that it isn't the preferred environment though. It seems like every article I read on the subject wants some form of open floor plan. Is it just more hippie crap from people in academia who don't actually have anything to accomplish...you know, like agile. Do any actual developers prefer this?
CPallini wrote: You cannot argue with agile people so just take the extreme approach and shoot him.
:Smile:
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The linked article says something along the lines of dev's prefer an office but studies show productivity is better with the war room.
I just discounted an office as 'never going to happen'.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
Shed Petition[ ^]
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To be fair, the first time I read the article I just got the war room thing from the bullet points and got pissed off. I still don't remotely agree that his suggested office layout is good for anything. I think he vastly over estimates how much communication goes on between a dev team and vastly over estimates the effect of walls.
CPallini wrote: You cannot argue with agile people so just take the extreme approach and shoot him.
:Smile:
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ChrisElston wrote: The linked article says something along the lines of dev's prefer an office but studies show productivity is better with the war room.
Huh?
Which "linked article"?
The one that started this thread has a reference that specifically suggests that offices are better. However that isn't a study in any sense of the word.
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Shelby Robertson wrote: I have an office, it is wonderful.
I, too, have an office. It's great! The only people in cubes in my company are the support guys and the testers.
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill
America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde
Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
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There's a few things missing off the list:
Ergonomic office furniture including properly supportive chairs and electronically height-adjustable desks so you can stand and work. You can even get these from IKEA for the same price as many standard desks.
Hardware the developer deems appropriate. If this means i7s with SSDs and 16 Gig of RAM, deal with it.
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We have terrible chairs as well, all legally adjustable and acceptable of course, but at the very cheaper end of the market and no chance of getting a better one without some weighty medical reason.
I miss everything about the environment of my last job; great chair, large desk, the business had to go out in the rain to get to us, ranks of test machines next door, support and infrastructure down the corridor - close enough but not too close. I miss nothing else.
I quite like the work where I am now, and even most of the people (although never tell them that), but the working environment is becoming intolerable. They company moved into purpose built offices 30 or 40 years ago, and has grown massively since then, and continues to do so.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
Shed Petition[ ^]
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ChrisElston wrote: no chance of getting a better one without some weighty medical reason
The problem with this attitude by employers is that it's not preventative. They'd rather see you get a bad back first and then deal with it, by which time it can be too late. I'm very lucky that every time I've had a dodgy back from crappy offices I've managed to recover.
Years ago when I still lived in the UK I started a new job they gave me a chair you'd normally see at a kitchen table combined with a desk that was so low I couldn't actually get my legs under it given the height of the chair, and no monitor stand so I was miles from the desk, no arm support, leaning forward looking down on my monitor at a 120 degree angle. I brought this up with the line manager and asked to have proper furniture and his answer was simply "tough". So I didn't stay all that long.
If you employer doesn't value occupational health they're not worth working for. They see you as a resource that they'd rather spend as little as possible on and you should be grateful you're getting paid at all, ignoring the fact that by agreeing to be employed you are in fact selling them a chunk of your life.
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They have an occupational health person so they are covered, not so the employees are looked after. Everything meets requirements.
Still, we got new carpets, and all the woodwork was painted a nasty institutional royal blue.
Working from home today, far more comfortable and spacious. Just need to stop the dog chewing the laptop and ignore the noise of the man installing a new kitchen.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
Shed Petition[ ^]
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ChrisElston wrote: Just need to stop the dog chewing the laptop
Are you sure your dog isn't actually a goat...? 
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill
America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde
Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
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Hahaha, and that's why dogs are man's best friend. They sleep in similar positions to us...
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill
America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde
Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
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