What is your demand for a working software development environment?

Question

Hi! I am currently setting up a new software development department with my employer. I'm a former programmer, project manager and director of development, so I have an idea of how the environment should be. I would like your opinions on the matter as you are the guys I am actually preparing this for :)

My fundamentals:

• Office space; I am not fund of open space arrangements. I prefer single offices or offices where a max of three people shares the space. There should be sufficient spacing to house a big desk, visiting chair, bookshelves, etc. A minimum of 8-10 square meters pr person. Desks can be adjusted electronically in height; chairs are "executive" models. Every office has at least 1 big window that can be opened.
• Tools; the computer is latest model from a big supplier - sufficient with HD, ram and power. 2 screens are a minimum, 22 inches. Every office will have at least one whiteboard.
• Meeting rooms; enough rooms with big whiteboards and projectors will be available.
• Coffee machine; state of the art serving different kinds of brew
• Fresh fruit delivered several times a week
• Soft drinks and fresh water available
• Software testing lab available
• Own rooms for communication (video conf, phone conf, etc)

Btw; there will be no public speaker system for messages :)

Other parts of the working conditions like buying the things you need when you need it, being sent to the courses you would like to go to, getting the possibility to travel to customers if needed (and wanted by both parties) and have as little interruptions as possible from customer support and the like are also included.

I guess I could write more, ex. in regards to only working with the tasks you want to work with or projects that are interesting, no code-monkey work, etc. But I'll leave some of it to you :)

(And no - I will not at the end of the thread say something like "Hi - come work for me". I am based in Norway - so I guess this would only be applicable for a very small percentage of you :))

Answer 1

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/70846/developers-bill-of-rights

Answer 2

2 x 22" is a bit steep IMO.

Answer 3

A shower would be great, if there's any possibility to ride a bike to work.

Answer 4

A pool table.

Answer 5

Offices with space for pair-programming

Answer 6

To be honest I disagree with single offices, programming is a collaberative art and it benefits highly from being in touch with other people doing the same thing as you.

Whether it's to ask somone how to do something, or to show someone something to get thier opinion on it, it's much easier to do so in an open office environment.

I'd suggest Laptops for your developers and a work from home policy. It gets in the way of your 2x22" monitor plans but it's convenient.

Ensure that you have good tools to work with:

1. Look into continuous integration, source control unit testing etc.

2. Set coding standards and agree on them, there is nothing worse than picking up somone elses code to maintain and finding it to be a total mess.

3. Have a library of books for people to use as reference material, yeah you can look it up online but there is something about hardcopy that makes it better in some instances

4. Offer to pay for your employees to be trained, it will make them feel more appreciated and will also improve the quality of what they produce.l

Clarification

By work from home I mean allow them to work from home if it's nessisary, and at least make it such that it can be done. Some people will work on something in the office and then finish it off over the the weekend if it interests them, others will never work from home.

I've seen studies that say that companies that let their employees work from home have happier employees, but also people who Always work from home have lower promotion prospects because no one knows who they are.

Once or twice a week is probably best for work from home. any more than that and you get detached from the social atmosphere of the office, but it does mean that you can: 1. Accept deliveries. 2. Have people round to fix things. 3. Have a lie in. (half an hour extra in bed can do wonders) 4. Get other stuff done in your lunch break.

Answer 7

Already plenty of discussion:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/work-environment http://stackoverflow.com/questions/54495/demanding-better-work-environments-how-to-say-it-in-a-polite-way http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/ergonomics

Answer 8

If you have the space: a library, with comfortable sitting/reading space and an absolute quite policy. Needs a small Mac mini or netbook with software like Delicious Library to manage loans.

Answer 9

Dedicated paringstations featuring 2xMice and Keyboards. Also when ordering them computers be sure to fit them with fast not big disks, think Western Digital VelociRaptor disks, this will really have an impact on compile and link times.

Don't forget to have a couple of spare machines that can be used as continous integration / build machines.