3 ms·

They might be a little high on meeting room to desk ratio. We had 16 full time and a handful of contractor/intern part time when I was at Bug Labs and we had ba

They might be a little high on meeting room to desk ratio. We had 16 full time and a handful of contractor/intern part time when I was at Bug Labs and we had basically 2 meeting rooms (1 large, one the size of the 5 little ones here) and a workshop space, and it worked pretty well. At most 1 extra meeting room would be good. Having a little extra space for more desks when you expand is a good thing. I'm not sure how applicable this is to 37signals, but in general I think it is a good idea to separate people who are on the phone all day (sales, customer service) from people who aren't (engineers). We worked fine with 15 people in an open plan, but as soon as we threw in 1 guy on the phone all day it made the open plan annoying at times. And for him if he is in the meeting room to be on the phone all day everyday, why isn't it just his office? There was actually a tour of our office posted this morning: http://www.businessinsider.com/bug-labs-office-tour-2010-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/bug-labs-office-tour-2010-5

jasonfried 16y ago
"I'm not sure how applicable this is to 37signals, but in general I think it is a good idea to separate people who are on the phone all day (sales, customer service) from people who aren't (engineers). We worked fine with 15 people in an open plan, but as soon as we threw in 1 guy on the phone all day it made the open plan annoying at times." We agree which is why we have the big empty room top left that will be used if/when we offer customer service/support via phone. It's isolated from the rest of the space. Right now we only provide support via email so we don't have phones ringing. When someone does need to use the phone they can use a sound-isolated phone booth room.
bitsai 16y ago
I wish every tech company would embrace your separation idea. The company I work for takes the open plan to an extreme: every floor is completely open, no one is separated from anyone else. For a span of about 4 months, I worked right next to HR recruiters, who are on the phone ALL DAY LONG. It was pure hell.

jasonfried 16y ago

"I'm not sure how applicable this is to 37signals, but in general I think it is a good idea to separate people who are on the phone all day (sales, customer service) from people who aren't (engineers). We worked fine with 15 people in an open plan, but as soon as we threw in 1 guy on the phone all day it made the open plan annoying at times." We agree which is why we have the big empty room top left that will be used if/when we offer customer service/support via phone. It's isolated from the rest of the space. Right now we only provide support via email so we don't have phones ringing. When someone does need to use the phone they can use a sound-isolated phone booth room.

bitsai 16y ago

I wish every tech company would embrace your separation idea. The company I work for takes the open plan to an extreme: every floor is completely open, no one is separated from anyone else. For a span of about 4 months, I worked right next to HR recruiters, who are on the phone ALL DAY LONG. It was pure hell.