Fog Creek’s Office Economics
I'm a sucker for pretty office space. A few years ago, I wrote an email to Joel Spolsky, asking if I can drop by the Bionic Office. I never got a reply. I mentioned that when I met Joel at a YCombinator event - he said something about his spam folder. Well, he's a popular guy.
It turns out Fog Creek has a new office, and it was all the rage on the Internets a week ago. It looks gorgeous.
That reminds me of Google Zurich, which I've actually seen in person (thanks, Markus!). Per square meter, it seems less expensive: They're not in NYC, and they didn't seem to be spending $699 on shower benches.
If you were to run a controlled experiment with the same people in normal NYC office space, the quality and quantity of output would probably be the same.
Instead of improving engineering output, these offices improve engineer input: By creating a prettier place to work, it's easier to attract talent. These pictures on Picasa are the real deliverable: You even see people applying in the comments!
These offices say: We care about engineers. We care about making your workspace as pleasant and possible. You're the rockstars. With us, you're surrounded by beautiful things, and we fly you first class.
One day, when we're profitable, I want to have an office like this. But before startups hit profitability, it's hard to compete with these luxuries: Even Joel worked out of his grandma's house in the early days of Fog Creek.
But it's not the Desiron coffee bar stools that create a great environment for engineers. It's a culture of openness, sound technical decisions, great products, and the desire to leave a lasting a positive impact. And that's the culture I want us to have.
It turns out Fog Creek has a new office, and it was all the rage on the Internets a week ago. It looks gorgeous.
That reminds me of Google Zurich, which I've actually seen in person (thanks, Markus!). Per square meter, it seems less expensive: They're not in NYC, and they didn't seem to be spending $699 on shower benches.
If you were to run a controlled experiment with the same people in normal NYC office space, the quality and quantity of output would probably be the same.
Instead of improving engineering output, these offices improve engineer input: By creating a prettier place to work, it's easier to attract talent. These pictures on Picasa are the real deliverable: You even see people applying in the comments!
These offices say: We care about engineers. We care about making your workspace as pleasant and possible. You're the rockstars. With us, you're surrounded by beautiful things, and we fly you first class.
One day, when we're profitable, I want to have an office like this. But before startups hit profitability, it's hard to compete with these luxuries: Even Joel worked out of his grandma's house in the early days of Fog Creek.
But it's not the Desiron coffee bar stools that create a great environment for engineers. It's a culture of openness, sound technical decisions, great products, and the desire to leave a lasting a positive impact. And that's the culture I want us to have.
Labels: office
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home