My Wish: Joel’s Bionic Office
Yes, Joel’s post on the Bionic Office is over three years old, but it has had staying power in my mind since I first read it. On a daily basis, I live in a cube like many of us. On top of that, my cube is certainly no Dilbert Ultimate Cube. So if I was granted just one wish by the office genie, it would be that every office I ever work in from now until death has a setup similar to Joel’s Bionic Office. Joel believes that IT workers their own private offices to make a home where they can be most productive.
Think about it. Why do you like going home each day? Because it has your creature comforts and it’s a place where you want to be. Home is whatever you’d like it to be. Many of you out there spend more time at work than at home, so it needs to be comfortable. Not lay back and take a nap comfortable (although I really think naps would help a lot of workers), but the work environment should be customizable to the person and how they accomplish tasks.
After I read the article, I focused on two points. The Private Offices, which I’ve touched on already and Pair Programming. What’s pair programming? Exactly what it sounds like, two people sit at one terminal and program together. I used to program, and I’m around programmers now, along with the assortment of IT staff. I’ll go one step further than Joel and say that every station for ALL IT staff should have two monitors and plenty of leg room. Why? It makes collaboration a hell of a lot easier. Work areas that accommodate two workers are conducive to learning. A little bit of learning each day is far better than having to soak it all up at once at a training session. Judging from my 5+ years in the IT workforce, collaboration happens when it’s easy, and not so much when it’s not.
Why do you think everyone wants an Easy Button?
January 3, 2007 7:22 pm 
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