Joel Spolsky: Lunch • Hacker News Board

Re: Joel Spolsky: Lunch

#11

Post by devspade » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 6:43 PM UTC

JabavuAdams wrote: post #4

While there are some positives, to enforce this seems quite inhumane. People often need a bit of space in order to work together better. Also, in a group > 2 there's huge potential for conversational drift. So, if two people want to talk about a certain topic, it becomes too easy to derail. Embrace the quiet.

We do this at my company and it's awesome. The idea is it's not at all mandatory. Do whatever you want for lunch. But everyday, at noon, there will be a free lunch served at this location. Most people will participate in that 4 out of 5 days. If they have a deadline, want to meet a friend for lunch, need to run some errands or whatever it's fine. Most often the conversation is about everything but business.

It makes us closer as a team and some of our best ideas come out over lunch when we're not trying to brainstorm or think about business issues.

Re: Joel Spolsky: Lunch

#12

Post by garyrichardson » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 6:43 PM UTC

I guess I'm just a lone wolf who likes to get things done during lunch.

Typically, I go for a walk and get some errands done. Or sit quietly and reflect. Or I'll go have lunch with non-work friends.

Occasionally I'll go out with work friends.

Re: Joel Spolsky: Lunch

#13

Post by soitgoes » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 6:45 PM UTC

I prefer to grab a sandwich and go for a walk. This was especially true when I was contracting and based in interesting cities that were fun to explore.

Re: Joel Spolsky: Lunch

#14

Post by devspade » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 6:45 PM UTC

simulate wrote: post #2

How does a small company like Fog Creek handle ordering, delivery, and clean up each day? In the photo it appears that everyone is eating off of china with silverware. Do they maintain a cafeteria?

At our company the CEO just takes orders and goes and gets food. If he's out or busy he leaves a prepaid visa and someone else goes. No fancy china but it works. Sometimes we'll order in using foodler.com which lets you do group ordering.

Re: Joel Spolsky: Lunch

#15

Post by mburney » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 6:45 PM UTC

I'd rather not be compelled to eat with co-workers at lunch. Lunch should be a time to do whatever you want. For things like meeting people/friends outside of work, having some quiet time to read a book, or going to the gym.

Some days I don't even feel like eating at lunch, and prefer to have a late lunch in the afternoon.

And why the compulsion to sit with people that I already interact with the entire day? Nothing wrong with being social with your co-workers, but it ought to be natural. This isn't kindergarten.

Re: Joel Spolsky: Lunch

#16

Post by jfruh » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 6:45 PM UTC

Joel is obviously not aware of the differences between introverts and extroverts, which seems weird for someone who works in a field with a lot of introverts.

I'm not down on his idea of eating lunch together - it's probably fun and productive. But if someone spots me eating lunch by myself while reading (a book, a magazine, on my phone, on my computer), it's not because I "don't like people," or, sadder, that I pretend not to like people because I've been rejected socially. It's because I find dealing with people all day somewhat wearying and I enjoy having time to myself doing things that I like, such as catching up on reading I can't do during work hours.

Re: Joel Spolsky: Lunch

#17

Post by hvs » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 6:46 PM UTC

Eating lunch together (whether to talk technology or just to socialize) is huge for building a cohesive team that works together and talks outside of the lunch room. Especially if you don't work with each other directly on a day-to-day basis, it helps to reinforce that you all work together rather than on separate teams.

Re: Joel Spolsky: Lunch

#18

Post by edw519 » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 6:48 PM UTC

I have always hated this and probably always will. I have rarely eaten lunch with my work mates. Just a few reasons why:

1. I don't want to talk about work at lunch.

2. I want to get out of the office and get some fresh air.

3. I often want to get away from the very people that Joel suggests spending time with on my break.

4. I'm a "food outlier". I hate pizza, deli, and fast food. I won't eat it away from work. Why should I eat it there?

5. Sometimes I want a beer with my lunch.

6. Sometimes I just want to close my eyes for 5 minutes.

7. If my work mates are talking about something other than work, I'm probably not interested. I'd rather chew razor blades than talk about traffic, weather, casino gambling, baseball, real estate taxes, gun control, politics, or Dancing with the Stars. I'd rather shoot myself than hear anything about their children.

8. If I am going to talk about work, I will want to bitch about the boss. Tough to do if he/she is there.

9. If I am going to talk about work, I want everyone else to talk freely and openly. This never happens. They will bitch about anyone else if they're not there, but when we're all together, they act like everything is just peachy. Phoneys.

10. "Enforced association" is phoney. I'd rather just make my own friends at work or out of work. So what if it appears to be a clique? All that means is that we are humans acting naturally.

Re: Joel Spolsky: Lunch

#19

Post by ry0ohki » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 6:52 PM UTC

edw519 wrote: post #18

I have always hated this and probably always will. I have rarely eaten lunch with my work mates. Just a few reasons why: 1. I don't want to talk about work at lunch. 2. I want to get out of the office and get some fresh air. 3. I often want to get away from the very people that Joel suggests spending time with on my break. 4. I'm a "food outlier". I hate pizza, deli, and fast food. I won't eat it away from work. Why…

Most of the reasons you mentioned are exactly why the "free lunch" perk at a former job began to show me there really is no such thing as "no free lunch".

I think Joel has the right idea if you want to inspire a cult-like work environment which is probably very good for getting things done, but I worry that these type of things also cause a group think, as you notice people start sharing the same opinions about everything because of peer pressure.

Re: Joel Spolsky: Lunch

#20

Post by JCB_K » Thu, Apr 28, 2011, 6:53 PM UTC

I remember my first day working at IKEA as a summer job. I was young, I didn't know anyone, I didn't know the culture. So I got my lunch, found an empty spot to sit, and was about to sit down. But I didn't sit down properly before someone came over from a busy table, asking me if I wanted to join them.

From then on I realized that the culture was that everybody always eats together there. That way I got to know loads of people, many of whom I otherwise never would've talked to because they'd work in an entirely different department. This is just 1 example of the awesome culture at IKEA.