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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 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 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…
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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.
I don't object to the sound or dust so much as how much of a pain in the bum they are to write on. Whiteboard lets you write pretty accurately when you want to, whereas chalkboards and sticks of chalk seem to reduce anything other than large sweeps to painful scratchings.
They look very trendy / counter-corporate, but I'd hate having to use the things.
My home office is quiet and free of clutter, but still warm and inviting, with about 8 different adjustable levels of lighting, depending on my mood. It took me a while to get it the way I want it, and it is by no means fancy, but it's the most comfortable work environment I've had so far.
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.
I'm 100% with you on that one. Working from home, particularly with the same equipment and environment for both fun stuff and professional stuff, is really weird and I find it can dilute my sense of when I'm wearing my professional hat and when I'm on my own time. The result is that both can get disrupted by the other more often than I would prefer. I sometimes get to the end of what feels like a long working day, and find that I have only logged a few hours that are billable to a client. Several other things happened during the day, and while I hadn't registered how much time they were using up before, the time sheet does not lie.
We've actually been setting up a new home office just these past few days, because not having a separate space finally got too weird now both of us are working from home. Just walking into the room, where everything is perfectly tidy and the shelves contain business stationery and the books are technical ones and the hardware is serious business stuff, changes my perspective and makes me want to concentrate on getting useful stuff done Right Now. I still wear suits to meetings with clients for much the same reason, even though I know they wouldn't care if I was just in jeans and a T-shirt: it's my professional face, and it brings with it my professional mindset.
I once read about a guy who had an office in his back room. Every morning he would get up, dress in his work clothes, walk out the front door, walk around the side of his house to the back door, and let himself into his office, even though he could have just walked through the home. I wouldn't go that far myself, but I totally understand why he did it.
The design folks, like the article says, are more concerned with a clean presentation and tidy appearance, the programmer style is more concerned with being a place that they can feel is surreal and comfortable enough that they can just work there continuously and feel comfort in the geekiness.
That being said, I work squarely in the latter camp and am glad that I don't feel obligated to take part in the corporate sponsored 'whackyness'! Maybe because I don't like feeling obligated to be in the office more, than necessary. I like having random stuff at my desk, but this reeks of Office Space style flair.
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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.. ;-)
You are confusing gamers with programmers
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…