Ask HN: What work environment helps you produce your best work?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5521176

by stevenameyer • 13 years ago

8 10 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

This industry seems to put a lot more emphasis on work environment than others. I obviously have my own opinions as to what my ideal work environment would be, but I'd be interested in getting other people's opinion as to what kind of environment helps people produce their best work.

Edit: spelling

t0• 13 years ago

Something where I'm surrounded by other people actually doing work. Anything but working from home.

adkatrit• 13 years ago

for me (introvert): silence. minimal distractions. low light.

samstave• 13 years ago

Thats a really big question. There are a lot of factors that go into the definition of environment, so as i am short on time - Ill focus on that which is before me:

Big monitor, large and clean work surface, snappy machine and a great mouse!

Honestly, the biggest thing that reduces my productivity instantly is no mouse or a crappy mouse.

I use 24/27 inch monitors at work and at home - but honestly, I am beginning to think that a single 30 inch is best (I have dual 24's at home and a single 24 at work) - I prefer a single larger screen over two...

bwh2• 13 years ago

Natural light, standing desk, large monitors, fast machines, clean whiteboards, and a cultural acceptance that wearing headphones is effectively a "do not disturb" sign.

justhw• 13 years ago

  Quite(not even classical music).
  Near windows.
  Cool Temp (65-70 deg fr).
  Big Screen and smooth mouse/keyboard.

lifeisstillgood• 13 years ago

Trust of, and trust in collegues

An environment supportive of trying new things and accepting the inevitable failures

An environment measuring results in a week not a day, and delivery over months

It's cloudy to me, this perfect environment.

ju• 13 years ago

Silence and no interruptions

hkarthik• 13 years ago

My ideal work environment would be small co-located teams of 3-4 really smart people. The team should be colocated together with easy access to Product people and should consist of design, frontend, and backend developers.

The reality is I have only been in this situation once in a 10 year career and it only lasted 6 months. Most of the time I've had to contend with the following:

1) Not really hiring the best developers you can find.

2) A noisy "open office" environment.

3) Product people are unreachable and don't clearly define work well enough for the team to just go at it.

So these days I've started working with distributed teams. It eliminates many of the problems, but introduces new ones (like communication issues, tendencies for bad situations to seem worse than they are, managers with trust issues, etc).

orangethirty• 13 years ago

Office with a door, and without a phone/line. Good chair, nice monitor(s), and trackball. A/C, clean carpets. A plant, and a rubber duck/action figure for debugging. A window if possible.

benji-york• 13 years ago

I seem to do my best in total silence or listening to instrumental music that I know well. Sitting on my porch with a slight breeze blowing is a nice enhancement.

Ask HN: What work environment helps you produce your best work?

Related Stories