Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos • Hacker News Board

Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos

#41

Post by sportsTAKES » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 7:00 PM UTC

frisco wrote: post #6

I 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…

I've been to the Zappos office - don't mistake the random crap for anything other than an extremely motivated, tight run ship - those guys are killer business people - top to bottom.

That said, my personal taste leans more towards the 37 offices.

Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos

#42

Post by sportsTAKES » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 7:02 PM UTC

dmix wrote: post #14

frisco wrote: post #6

I 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…

I'd also imagine the people who work at 37s are generally introverted developer/designers while Zappos is packed full of extroverts. I'd expect different environments for both. Does the Zappos engineering dept look the same?

Yes - the entire office is covered in decorations, themes and general craziness.

Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos

#43

Post by rhizome » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 7:05 PM UTC

hsmyers wrote: post #11

Having worked in two disparate offices; a Capital One debt recovery phone bank and Electronic Arts; both of which follow the Zappos model, I'd say that if it doesn't get in the way of production be it code or money collection then why waste time on non-productive issues. To me this is much the same as insisting on suits for programmers...

I worked at EA as well and it's exactly what I thought of when I saw the Zappos offices.

Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos

#44

Post by bguthrie » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 7:06 PM UTC

Interestingly, Rackspace--another very service-oriented company--has an office culture very similar to Zappos. I wonder if it's common to more companies highly focused on customer support as a differentiator.

Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos

#45

Post by c2 » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 7:29 PM UTC

I don't really care what my office looks like. The most important thing to me is the team I'm working with followed closely by the things I'm working on. The appearance of the office space is so far down the list of my priorities as to be negligible.

As long as I'm excited to go to work, the actual appearance of the office makes very little difference to me.

Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos

#46

Post by billpaetzke » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 7:43 PM UTC

dmix wrote: post #14

frisco wrote: post #6

I 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…

I'd also imagine the people who work at 37s are generally introverted developer/designers while Zappos is packed full of extroverts. I'd expect different environments for both. Does the Zappos engineering dept look the same?

Also notice the different gender makeup:

* only men are in the 37signals pics

* only women are in the Zappos pics

Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos

#47

Post by shaggyfrog » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 7:53 PM UTC

zachallaun wrote: post #2

37signals' office seems to say, "You're in, you're out." Fried has, on multiple occasions, suggested that offices are the downfall of work. You're more productive in your natural environment. Their office seems to reflect that: You come in to work, quickly and efficiently, and then you leave and head home to get your real work done. In contrast, Zappos' office seems to say, "You're already home." [edit] It's also wor…

> In contrast, Zappos' office seems to say, "You're already home."

I think the worst thing you can do to an employee is start merging the idea of "home" with the idea of "work". It implies sleeping at your desk and never really "leaving". At least, that's how I'd see it, if I still had a FT job.

Full disclosure: I work from home. It's confusing and I'm hoping to get a separate office soon.

Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos

#48

Post by run4yourlives » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 8:21 PM UTC

Look at the markets they sell to. 37Signals needs to remain professional and appear competent, because they routinely buck established business "truths" and this draws attention.

I wouldn't listen to a person telling me they have a better way of conducting business from inside a green tent. Sorry, I'd think they were an immature kid...

...which is exactly why Zappos' approach works. They distribute a hip, cool product to people based on other businesses' reputation. The only thing they need to do is ship something once the right way to convince a retail customer they are competent enough to take a pair of shoes (or whatever) from point A to point B.

People have very different expectations with regards to the deliverables of the companies. The office space simply flows from that.

Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos

#49

Post by yarone » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 8:32 PM UTC

dmix wrote: post #14

frisco wrote: post #6

I 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…

I'd also imagine the people who work at 37s are generally introverted developer/designers while Zappos is packed full of extroverts. I'd expect different environments for both. Does the Zappos engineering dept look the same?

Also notice that Zappos is in Las Vegas. Big local culture difference.

Re: Office comparison: 37signals vs Zappos

#50

Post by jonny_eh » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 8:33 PM UTC

petercooper wrote: post #38

yatsyk wrote: post #20

Zappos 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.. ;-)

Just because hackers live like slobs it does not mean that living like a slob makes you a better hacker. Maybe these hacker slobs would be more productive if they had a clean work environment.