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As a technologist working at a company that helps businesses design & build office space, one item I notice always lacking in conversations about office space i

by loteck 9y ago

As a technologist working at a company that helps businesses design & build office space, one item I notice always lacking in conversations about office space is growth. The article brushes off growth by suggesting you just open a new office when you've grown. This suggestion lacks understanding of how growth happens. It's rarely an instant doubling of headcount. Most organic growth creeps up. So let me invade your "dream" office with a bit of tough reality. Everywhere you imagined 3 people, 6 months later, put in 5. Then 4 months later, every available "single quiet" space, replace with a full time desk. Then in 60 days put a few part timers and interns out in common area, permanently. Now hold the line for a couple years while we find affordable space to relocate everyone to. Your dream space becomes just another overcrowded, noisy envitonment due to the realities of cost and efficiency that drive every business.

tckr 9y ago
Ok, so I would ask an architect: build me an office that can scale. What would they answer? We have shitty offices because there is no solution, so allow me to at least say: if you want me to work in your office (which I think is not necessary at all) build me one, that suits my productivity and not the constraints of the real estate market. Realistically, as a company you would start with one floor, and once it fills up, rent another in the same building. Companies here are doing this and lending more floors then they initially need and are subletting them, so they can move in later. We could rent an ware house and build offices out of shipping containers. That could be done.
- xixixao 9y ago
  An open plan office, starting with 50 desks, can grow to 75 or even 100, by gradually increasing desk density. You cannot evict ppl from floors you own on the spot. Growth is hard to predict. Hence the dream office will stay a dream unless you are working for a no-growth company doing the same things all the time.
  - tckr 9y ago
    Open-plan is not an option. But focussing on how to grow might help. If I stick to the max 30 people rule, I will soon learn that I can do a lot with 30 people. And if not, why do they have to be so closely integrated? Communication gets hard anyway in such a large group. Why not grow to 40 and then split into 20+20 and make the two teams two separate businesses, with their own office and at the same time reducing the width of the communication channel between the teams.
  - MaulingMonkey 9y ago
    Increasing density isn't unique to open office plans - add more people to the same room.
  - xorblurb 9y ago
    An over-crowded open-office is even more productivity destroying than an open-office of a "normal" density. Plus, like already said, you can increase density (at least if the target is not overdensity) in other configurations... Maybe it's more difficult to over-crowd if you don't have an open-office, but that's a feature, not a bug.
- dagw 9y ago
  Realistically, as a company you would start with one floor, and once it fills up, rent another in the same building. Unless you are in a really unattractive area the chances the there is an empty floor in the same building just sitting around waiting for you is quite unlikely. We could rent an ware house I certainly don't want to work in the parts of town where warehouses are easily available no matter how nice the office. I would much rather walk/bike/short bus ride to a slightly crowded office in the center of town than drive to an office out in the middle of nowhere no matter how nice, but that's just me.
- Fredej 9y ago
  We did that - paying existing businesses to move out as we grew. Took over one floor. Took over the next. And the next. And the next. Ran out of floors. Then the offices started filling up more and more. And more. Top management started looking at more space a long time ago but it's hard to come by because we're smack in the middle of downtown in major city and a lot of the people working here are really enjoying the easy access to public transportation and general life of the city. Location was part of the reason I accepted the job myself. We just found some additional offices though, so all is well again :)
mdekkers 9y ago
so true
hvidgaard 9y ago
If you need, and ancitipate this growth, you need empty space. Plain and simple.
Grue3 9y ago
Solution: grow mostly by acquisitions, and only buy firms with reasonable density offices.

by loteck 9y ago

tckr 9y ago

Ok, so I would ask an architect: build me an office that can scale. What would they answer? We have shitty offices because there is no solution, so allow me to at least say: if you want me to work in your office (which I think is not necessary at all) build me one, that suits my productivity and not the constraints of the real estate market. Realistically, as a company you would start with one floor, and once it fills up, rent another in the same building. Companies here are doing this and lending more floors then they initially need and are subletting them, so they can move in later. We could rent an ware house and build offices out of shipping containers. That could be done.

xixixao 9y ago
An open plan office, starting with 50 desks, can grow to 75 or even 100, by gradually increasing desk density. You cannot evict ppl from floors you own on the spot. Growth is hard to predict. Hence the dream office will stay a dream unless you are working for a no-growth company doing the same things all the time.
- tckr 9y ago
  Open-plan is not an option. But focussing on how to grow might help. If I stick to the max 30 people rule, I will soon learn that I can do a lot with 30 people. And if not, why do they have to be so closely integrated? Communication gets hard anyway in such a large group. Why not grow to 40 and then split into 20+20 and make the two teams two separate businesses, with their own office and at the same time reducing the width of the communication channel between the teams.
- MaulingMonkey 9y ago
  Increasing density isn't unique to open office plans - add more people to the same room.
- xorblurb 9y ago
  An over-crowded open-office is even more productivity destroying than an open-office of a "normal" density. Plus, like already said, you can increase density (at least if the target is not overdensity) in other configurations... Maybe it's more difficult to over-crowd if you don't have an open-office, but that's a feature, not a bug.
dagw 9y ago
Realistically, as a company you would start with one floor, and once it fills up, rent another in the same building. Unless you are in a really unattractive area the chances the there is an empty floor in the same building just sitting around waiting for you is quite unlikely. We could rent an ware house I certainly don't want to work in the parts of town where warehouses are easily available no matter how nice the office. I would much rather walk/bike/short bus ride to a slightly crowded office in the center of town than drive to an office out in the middle of nowhere no matter how nice, but that's just me.
Fredej 9y ago
We did that - paying existing businesses to move out as we grew. Took over one floor. Took over the next. And the next. And the next. Ran out of floors. Then the offices started filling up more and more. And more. Top management started looking at more space a long time ago but it's hard to come by because we're smack in the middle of downtown in major city and a lot of the people working here are really enjoying the easy access to public transportation and general life of the city. Location was part of the reason I accepted the job myself. We just found some additional offices though, so all is well again :)

mdekkers 9y ago

so true

hvidgaard 9y ago

If you need, and ancitipate this growth, you need empty space. Plain and simple.

Grue3 9y ago

Solution: grow mostly by acquisitions, and only buy firms with reasonable density offices.