How we chose and furnished an office the Y Combinator way • Hacker News Board

Re: How we chose and furnished an office the Y Combinator way

#21

Post by _b8r0 » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:05 PM UTC

roc wrote: post #13

_b8r0 wrote: post #5

> We decided to build instead of buy Meaning they decided to procrastinate instead of working on their product/service. > we instead chose to purchase solid core doors from Home Depot (~$40 each) Meaning they instead chose to spend more on something that wasn't designed to be a desk than an actual desk. From [1]: Ergonomically, door desks leave a lot to be desired. Keyboards were usually too high. Typing for hours co…

> "Meaning they decided to procrastinate instead of working on their product/service." If they were truly procrastinating, you've got a point. But that's hardly implicit in having spent time and energy on a desk. You can't work productively 24x7. You need downtime. And those desks, not to minimize the effort they did put into them, don't look like a huge time investment to me. As to the ergonomics, sure: ideally you…

Protip: Buy office furniture second hand, especially in a downward market. The resale value of office furniture is atrocious. There's plenty of office clearance companies all over the place that will sell you high quality office furniture at low low prices.

Re: How we chose and furnished an office the Y Combinator way

#22

Post by Goladus » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:09 PM UTC

A bit off topic, but this blog design is an example of failing at #1 from this recent post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4146888

There's a link to blog.cloudent.com but not cloudent.com, which is where I actually wanted to go.

Re: How we chose and furnished an office the Y Combinator way

#23

Post by calinet6 » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:13 PM UTC

_b8r0 wrote: post #5

> We decided to build instead of buy Meaning they decided to procrastinate instead of working on their product/service. > we instead chose to purchase solid core doors from Home Depot (~$40 each) Meaning they instead chose to spend more on something that wasn't designed to be a desk than an actual desk. From [1]: Ergonomically, door desks leave a lot to be desired. Keyboards were usually too high. Typing for hours co…

Well, as long as we're on the criticism train...

Problem 1: no link to main Cloudant page from the blog post.

Problem 2: at least 2 broken links to their products at the bottom of the page: (Big Couch, Private Cloud both give 404s)

Slightly sloppy; not that big a deal. But people might see.

Re: How we chose and furnished an office the Y Combinator way

#24

Post by mlmilleratmit » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:19 PM UTC

calinet6 wrote: post #23

_b8r0 wrote: post #5

> We decided to build instead of buy Meaning they decided to procrastinate instead of working on their product/service. > we instead chose to purchase solid core doors from Home Depot (~$40 each) Meaning they instead chose to spend more on something that wasn't designed to be a desk than an actual desk. From [1]: Ergonomically, door desks leave a lot to be desired. Keyboards were usually too high. Typing for hours co…

Well, as long as we're on the criticism train... Problem 1: no link to main Cloudant page from the blog post. Problem 2: at least 2 broken links to their products at the bottom of the page: (Big Couch, Private Cloud both give 404s) Slightly sloppy; not that big a deal. But people might see.

Wow, you're totally right about the links. You caught us in a transition to new web properties, embarrassing. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Re: How we chose and furnished an office the Y Combinator way

#25

Post by mlmilleratmit » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:20 PM UTC

_b8r0 wrote: post #5

> We decided to build instead of buy Meaning they decided to procrastinate instead of working on their product/service. > we instead chose to purchase solid core doors from Home Depot (~$40 each) Meaning they instead chose to spend more on something that wasn't designed to be a desk than an actual desk. From [1]: Ergonomically, door desks leave a lot to be desired. Keyboards were usually too high. Typing for hours co…

I'd like to think that we addressed many of the ergonomic issues of the generic door desk, but time will tell.

Re: How we chose and furnished an office the Y Combinator way

#26

Post by pg » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:25 PM UTC

_b8r0 wrote: post #5

> We decided to build instead of buy Meaning they decided to procrastinate instead of working on their product/service. > we instead chose to purchase solid core doors from Home Depot (~$40 each) Meaning they instead chose to spend more on something that wasn't designed to be a desk than an actual desk. From [1]: Ergonomically, door desks leave a lot to be desired. Keyboards were usually too high. Typing for hours co…

HN has gotten so nasty. I now find that when I click on "comments" I unconsciously brace myself to find this type of comment at the top of the thread.

Re: How we chose and furnished an office the Y Combinator way

#27

Post by soulcutter » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:26 PM UTC

jaytaylor wrote: post #4

All that time and energy you spent making your own desks could have been poured into your product instead. Just saying.

Team-building, pride in your surroundings, and creating a culture all pay off huge in productivity. I see it as an investment, not a waste.

Re: How we chose and furnished an office the Y Combinator way

#28

Post by karamazov » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:27 PM UTC

_b8r0 wrote: post #5

> We decided to build instead of buy Meaning they decided to procrastinate instead of working on their product/service. > we instead chose to purchase solid core doors from Home Depot (~$40 each) Meaning they instead chose to spend more on something that wasn't designed to be a desk than an actual desk. From [1]: Ergonomically, door desks leave a lot to be desired. Keyboards were usually too high. Typing for hours co…

Setting up a good work environment is a worthwhile investment. When you're going to be working somewhere for 8+ hours a day for the foreseeable future, setting it up to maximize your productivity is not procrastination.

Re: How we chose and furnished an office the Y Combinator way

#29

Post by quellhorst » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:28 PM UTC

Ikea desks are not too expensive and will have a higher resell value than your door desks when your company goes under from spending too much time making desks.

Re: How we chose and furnished an office the Y Combinator way

#30

Post by mlmilleratmit » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:29 PM UTC

namella wrote: post #15

gyros23 wrote: post #9

Well done! Wood is an amazing material. Don't not mind these comments about investing your time better. You did it right. A solid and comfortable environment is essential for a good product. Maybe good ideas were created at starbucks, but certainly not good products.

Then why did they design their office to look like a starbucks?

Hah, nice! Ironically, my mom is an interior designer. We're still working on what to hang on the wall, furniture and layout, but I have some ideas of how to make it personal/local, hopefully that'll take it a bit out of the Starbucks genre.