Zappos and 37signals hire (for the most part) different kinds of people for very different jobs. I, for example, would be much more likely to work for 37signals, and I also find their office much more appealing. I don't think that's a coincidence.
Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos
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Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos
#32I visited the Zappos office while I was in Las Vegas recently (proof: http://dis.tl/haPmaA) and must attest to how unbelievably amazing and awesome their offices are. The culture and morale is simply breathtaking.
That said, I think that it's tied much more closely to the culture than to just the nik-naks that litter the office (though clearly they are a part of it).
I like this post and it's good to get a look at the two offices but it would be great to get more of an understanding of HOW the office environment affects the office culture.
Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos
#33Awesome post ! thanks for this !
Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos
#34Apples to Oranges. Zappos is a support oriented culture whereas folks at 37s need a lot of quite time. I can't imagine Jamis Buck writing all his awesome maze algorithms while surrounded by balloons and tents everywhere.
Also, 37signals' office has a lot more square footage per employee and looks like they've spent a lot more on the design and materials. That's probably partly a reflection of 37signals' marginal product per employee and partly a reflection of hosting workshops for paying customers there. I'm not sure Zappos could afford the 37signals office aesthetic
Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos
#35I wouldn't want to work in Zappos's office. It just doesn't look appealing to me at all. On the other hand, the 37s offices feel cool . The Zappos offices are Office Space-like cubicles covered in random crap. The 37s offices send a very different message; if you're going to work in an office (hopefully, not all the time), I'd much rather be in that environment. I think it comes down to this: the style of the 37s off…
It's all relative. The office tends to conform to your culture and employees.
The Zappos style is "do whatever it takes to make you and your customer happy". The chaotic, haphazard office style befits a company that once drove to a B&M store to buy a pair of shoes that they didn't have in stock and then delivered the shoes personally to the customer (all for free btw). Absolute bloody madness that earns them over a billion dollars in revenue in a niche of a niche of e-commerce that even the big boys tried (and failed) to compete.
37signals, with sparse digs and even more spartan design decisions, keeps their decision-making more minimalistic and cold (we will not implement a feature before its time). Meetings are death, build less, leaner and more flexible. All this results in an environment where they could pack up and move the entire office within the same day that they push out a beautifully useful new major feature in their software.
Someone commented about Pixar's offices[1], which seems more a testament to their employees' penchant for exacting design and aesthetic perfection, with no pixel out of place and no colors clashing. Their workspace keeps their employees making films that gross billions worldwide and which are universally praised as classics in film and storytelling. Pure, exacting entertainment.
Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
They were, you're right. The office will change over time as we settle in. It's already a lot more lively than those pictures showed. We have plants and fresh flowers and art and books and some other things starting to make their way into the space. Time takes care of the personality.
I really like that 37S chose actual chalkboards.
What about dust?
Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos
#37I think the styles are more similar than Ryan makes it out - both have control over their environments, but in different ways. At Zappos, they have standard half-height cubes and they control their environment by sticking things on the wall and hanging it from the ceiling. At 37signals, I recall that they designed that office - they had a deeper influence on their environment than Zappos. Same thing, but a different…
Okay, but if you are hired after the new offices were designed, you now have no input into the design and no "right" to customize the environment. I"m not a fan of the Zappos office (it would drive me bonkers) but I do think folks should have a right to express their personality in their work environment so that they can feel more at "home". 37signals doesn't just look clean, it looks severe, sterile and unwelcoming - I remember a lot of dot-com marketing firms having offices like that in New York (anyone else remember the shark tanks at KPE?)
As I look around my work space right now, it's reasonably "business-like" but it's also obvious there is a lot of WORK getting done - white boards covered in post-its and sketches, index cards with stories tacked to the wall, etc. Those artifacts allow our team to cooperate better, but they're also part of how we "own" the space and make it ours.
Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos
#38Zappos workspace is bad from programmer point of view. Open space with lot of crap, phones on tables. May be this workspace is good for communication, someone could feel more happy in this workspace and so on but it's terrible for hacking. It looks like this envirement encourage interraptions. 37s office much better for productive work.
You say that, but Zappos' offices look more like most hacker personal spaces I've seen (just replace streamers with cables and turn the lights right down..) I know more geeks who live in a mess than those who adopt a stylistic, minimal approach. But maybe I know too many Unix nerds.. ;-)
Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos
#39[deleted]