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

#31

Post by hv23 » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:31 PM UTC

karamazov wrote: post #28

_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.

Curious; why was this downvoted?

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

#32

Post by jonstjohn » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:33 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #26

_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.

Absolutely. It is so easy to poke holes in somebody project, blog post, etc, and takes some contrarian angle. I just don't quite understand why they get voted up to the top.

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

#33

Post by swah » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:45 PM UTC

I like those brick walls. Bricks on my country are generally clearer and color doesn't vary that much. Do you know if that is some treatment on the bricks so they look old, or perhaps they are really old?

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

#34

Post by xfax » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:46 PM UTC

mlmilleratmit wrote: post #19

As the Cloudant Founder (YCS08) that opened the Seattle office, I really enjoy the diversity of this comment stream. I wrote this post because I thought it would provide some insight into our company, and because others may find it useful. We have been exceptionally busy building product, revenue and team. After fiddling with the prototype desk in my backyard, we ended up with something economical, fast, ergonomic an…

Kudos to you and the team for caring about the culture.

People tend to forget that the company culture - shared interests and activities being a big part of it - plays a huge part in shaping the quality of the product/service. In addition, it helps build a sense of identity and pride among employees, which is especially important for a fast growing company.

Taking some time off to work on a project like this might actually provide huge returns which are not immediately apparent.

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

#35

Post by swah » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:47 PM UTC

If I could choose so, I rather have my screens facing a wall, or even better the front door. I just don't like the feeling that people might be monitoring what I'm doing. Anyone else notices that?

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

#36

Post by xfax » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:48 PM UTC

venturebros wrote: post #6

Is this a YC company? If not why are they so concerned about doing things the YC way? Anyways I am just happy to see something Seattle related.

Yes, it is. It says so on the second sentence in TFA.

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

#37

Post by xfax » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:51 PM UTC

jonstjohn wrote: post #32

pg wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Absolutely. It is so easy to poke holes in somebody project, blog post, etc, and takes some contrarian angle. I just don't quite understand why they get voted up to the top.

It might be because people on HN are beacons of productivity who find that these atrocious projects take away from the reams of value that could be created otherwise by working on the product.

This is why they don't read news sites during the work day. Oh wait ...

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

#38

Post by anthonyb » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 9:56 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…

Actual desk tops are much more expensive, around 2x the price for an equivalent area: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/wor... I'm not sure about the whole rounding the legs off thing, but if you're going to make 20 desks it's probably not that big a deal, and it does make the legs a lot nicer.

And it's interesting that you're ignoring the Aeron chairs - or are they worth spending money on?

Update: My bad, they're actually Progrid chairs from Costco, not Aerons.

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

#39

Post by overworkedasian » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 10:02 PM UTC

really? why not just buy a $99 ikea desk: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40111124/

if you add up all the time it took to sand, varish, cut, drill etc it would have costs so much more. time is money man.

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

#40

Post by mlmilleratmit » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 10:04 PM UTC

anthonyb wrote: post #38

_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…

Actual desk tops are much more expensive, around 2x the price for an equivalent area: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/wor... I'm not sure about the whole rounding the legs off thing, but if you're going to make 20 desks it's probably not that big a deal, and it does make the legs a lot nicer. And it's interesting that you're ignoring the Aeron chairs - or are they worth spending money on? Upd…

Thanks, the rounded/tapered legs are a surprisingly important addition. Staining them would be wonderful, but that's more time intensive than staining the doors.

We offer Aeron chairs if folks want them. I tried the ProGrid (~10 way adjustable) chairs from Costco Business on a whim (I was stocking up on water cooler, fridge, etc). Costco has a great return policy, so no pressure. I've found them very adjustable and comfortable, so far no complaints or requests for an Aeron here. I should note that we got the mid-back version and it's a bit short for our 6' 6" @chewbranca.