5 ms·

>We've been using make-me to power all of our 3D printing needs including decorating our office with various prints and making useful trinkets. Pardon my ignor

>We've been using make-me to power all of our 3D printing needs including decorating our office with various prints and making useful trinkets. Pardon my ignorance, but is this really necessary? It seems like an office toy.

holman 14y ago
"Necessary" is a fun word. Have we, to date, printed anything in our 3D printer that helps us deliver Git repositories in a quick and timely manner? No. Have we built something that kept 140 employees happy and excited in the company because they're exploring technology they hadn't used before? Yes. Have we built something that helps everyone at the office learn and understand a major technological shift that might be useful in the event we'd like to build a product around this in the future? Yes. Is it fun to print cool shit? Yes. So yeah, I'd say it's necessary, at least for us. It makes the company a better place, both from a cultural and a business perspective. Your mileage may vary, naturally.
- kamme 14y ago
  This is the difference between a regular company and a company with a great atmosphere. It might seem a waste to some people but building an atmosphere like this makes me want to work at github. And that's a very big advantage in the tech industry. It's quite shocking how little you _have_ to give employees, but in the end people will not be very happy if you only care about the number of hours spend at the office and not about the person spending them there. Also; things like this are a great way to encourage your employees to think differently and get their creative juices flowing.
jspthrowaway2 14y ago
Sorry, but you sound like a real wet towel to be around. Shall we take away the coffee makers, too, since those are unnecessary? Let them have a bit of fun at the office.
- sopooneo 14y ago
  It may be that they are not against fun at all, but just didn't follow that the use of the word "necessary" was meant tongue-in-cheek, and were asking out of sincere confusion.
  - jspthrowaway2 14y ago
    Fair. The second sentence hurts that suggestion, though.
- vsbuffalo 14y ago
  Maybe I am a bit of a wet towel. Part of this is because I work in science where funds are scare (and we're trying to do really helpful and good things). Part of it is because I've been in the situation where I've had managers invest in frivolous items and it's frustrating. It's made my peers and I lose confidence in our manager's ability to estimate value in the workplace. It reminds me of the days when I would hang out at SGI as a kid and they'd throw endless amounts of money down the drain. Plus, that kind of money could get you a nice espresso machine. Try to print that.
- jrabone 14y ago
  I suppose instead of someone flying cargo planes full of rubber dog shit outta Hong Kong, they can at least print their own and save SOME airmiles...
nicholassmith 14y ago
Nothing in an office is necessary aside from some desks, some chairs and some computers. The rest is set decoration that can be skipped, but sometimes a little expenditure improves the quality of life for all people. Something like a 3D printer is ridiculous in the context of most office buildings, but the people at GitHub having one might lead to an interesting side project that becomes something valuable, or helps to consolidate 3D printing repos like they did for code. Never know when a toy might become something useful (see the Aeropress people, made boomerang toys, fiddled about with another concept, ta-da Aeropress).

holman 14y ago

"Necessary" is a fun word. Have we, to date, printed anything in our 3D printer that helps us deliver Git repositories in a quick and timely manner? No. Have we built something that kept 140 employees happy and excited in the company because they're exploring technology they hadn't used before? Yes. Have we built something that helps everyone at the office learn and understand a major technological shift that might be useful in the event we'd like to build a product around this in the future? Yes. Is it fun to print cool shit? Yes. So yeah, I'd say it's necessary, at least for us. It makes the company a better place, both from a cultural and a business perspective. Your mileage may vary, naturally.

kamme 14y ago
This is the difference between a regular company and a company with a great atmosphere. It might seem a waste to some people but building an atmosphere like this makes me want to work at github. And that's a very big advantage in the tech industry. It's quite shocking how little you _have_ to give employees, but in the end people will not be very happy if you only care about the number of hours spend at the office and not about the person spending them there. Also; things like this are a great way to encourage your employees to think differently and get their creative juices flowing.

jspthrowaway2 14y ago

Sorry, but you sound like a real wet towel to be around. Shall we take away the coffee makers, too, since those are unnecessary? Let them have a bit of fun at the office.

sopooneo 14y ago
It may be that they are not against fun at all, but just didn't follow that the use of the word "necessary" was meant tongue-in-cheek, and were asking out of sincere confusion.
- jspthrowaway2 14y ago
  Fair. The second sentence hurts that suggestion, though.
vsbuffalo 14y ago
Maybe I am a bit of a wet towel. Part of this is because I work in science where funds are scare (and we're trying to do really helpful and good things). Part of it is because I've been in the situation where I've had managers invest in frivolous items and it's frustrating. It's made my peers and I lose confidence in our manager's ability to estimate value in the workplace. It reminds me of the days when I would hang out at SGI as a kid and they'd throw endless amounts of money down the drain. Plus, that kind of money could get you a nice espresso machine. Try to print that.
jrabone 14y ago
I suppose instead of someone flying cargo planes full of rubber dog shit outta Hong Kong, they can at least print their own and save SOME airmiles...

nicholassmith 14y ago

Nothing in an office is necessary aside from some desks, some chairs and some computers. The rest is set decoration that can be skipped, but sometimes a little expenditure improves the quality of life for all people. Something like a 3D printer is ridiculous in the context of most office buildings, but the people at GitHub having one might lead to an interesting side project that becomes something valuable, or helps to consolidate 3D printing repos like they did for code. Never know when a toy might become something useful (see the Aeropress people, made boomerang toys, fiddled about with another concept, ta-da Aeropress).