Have You Ever Worked In A Developer "War Room" ?

Question

The company I work for has had about 10 of us in a conference room pushing for a deadline. Maybe it's just me, but I just can't get any work done in that sort of environment.

It seems as though I'm not the only one who has issues with this kind of work space (citing that Australian study at http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,24906913-5017672,00.html). Has anyone successfully worked in this sort of environment? Have any ideas on how to communicate up the chain that not everyone works well like this?

Answer 1

I've worked both in isolated and shared environments and I would say when working with others, my preference is for the shared environment. It needs to be done right, with some private space to take care of non-development tasks and some sort of library/conference area close so that you can take extended discussions out of the shared space. If done properly the ease of communication of the shared environment can be very enhancing to productivity. I'll grant that there may be some people who have difficulty remaining focused in such an environment, but I haven't found that to be the case for me. I'm able to both keep my mind on the task at hand but have enough bandwidth to overhear conversations which involve something I may be working on or which I can add to.

It could be that a bigger part of the problem is the "slave" attitude that you are picking up on. If the reason for the war room is punitive, or seems to be, I probably wouldn't react very well to it either.

Answer 2

More like a bore room. Get it?

The mere fact that they think "whipping the slaves" gets things done is an abomination. I'd take some compensatory under-time for the next week and whip up the resume...

AFTER OP EDIT:

They way you phrased it before seemed like you weren't moving towards the big milestone. I think in that case that this can be an "OK" method as long as it works with the people. If they originally slated 2 weeks for the big push and they're extending it a week...maybe they had a bad estimate of what it would take to perform the fixes...

If it goes on for a much longer time and they start pushing the unpushable deadline and keep you in those conditions, my original answer stands...

Answer 3

It sounds more like there's a problem with attitude, rather than the approach. I've worked in a room for 3 weeks with the same people on a recent project and it worked brilliantly. The ability to ask questions, overhear conversations, join in adhoc discussions, and make notes on the rather cool whiteboard walls was very refreshing.

I'm not sure on your exact situation, but it does sound like you/your boss/other people are either treating this as a punative measure, or have a bit of a downer on the approach from the off.

Answer 4

Sounds like a terrible environment. If they let you, get yourself some noise canceling headphones. Even if you don't put any music on, the noise canceling abilities should give you enough peace and quiet to be able to get some work done in the case when other developers are discussing something. I think this environment could work as long as no discussions were going on in that room. People discussing something should go outside the room so as not to disturb those who do not need to be in the discussion. Also worth noting, is that not everybody needs to be in ever discussion.

Answer 5

Where I'm at, there are many interuptions. Personally, I like the 'lock me/us in a room and pound out a solution' idea. I've participated in those before and have even started one. The results from those were fantastic. It's also promotes collaboration and a pseudo pair development without the loss of production.

I think of it as a developer think tank. Generally, great results!

Answer 6

Shared environments can be great when done properly. Where I work we all share one big room but with just 5 developers. It's far better than setting alone in an office ... but ... I can imagine stuffing every developer in 1 single conference room could be chaotic.

I'd suggest buying a decent pair of headphones and whip out your ipod during work. Perhaps it'll work for you :)

Answer 7

I've been working in an office room with 8 other people (7 developers plus manager) for many years now, and I would definitly not exchange that (although a little crowded) situation for my own office. You get so much more (informal) information when you are in the same room as your collegues, and it's easy to have interesting (and sometimes funny) ad-hoc discussions. Being alone in an office would mean less fun, less productivity and would feel more like "beiing the odd one out".

That said, our developers don't talk on the phone a lot, so there's not too much interruption coming from that, and we have spaces (like meeting rooms) nearby where we usually go for either longer or private conversations.

Answer 8

War rooms only work when there's a deadline and the developers want to do it to increase the build. If programmers are a dime a dozen to him, he will find out. :) Send him some articles (not just now, all the time) about programming and what makes it more productive.

You might want to get some earplugs. And febreeze.

Answer 9

For some people the mere presence of others in the room may be distracting. Stuffing 10 developers in a conference room without their consent for two weeks asks for a missed deadline by itself.

I found myself to be one of those people who need more private space. Music really helps. And you don't need a portable music player, just plug the headphones to your work computer, open last.fm radios section according to your taste and you're all set. I personally find "Instrumental" tag most appropriate for work.

Answer 10

Noise canceling headphones. If you're having trouble concentrating in your environment, these should help.

Answer 11

Yep, been there, done that, got the late night takeaways to prove it.

I do think there can be some value in the batten-the-hatches mentality and camaraderie this can engender, but it basically stems from the idea that more pressure and more applied hours = faster delivery, which is just blatantly false. However the other approach is more people = faster delivery, which is also obviously and widely demonstrated to be false, which really leaves the PM in charge with nothing but the admission they failed in their job.

Sometimes you just have to do what it takes, but it should always be with the awareness that this means something went wrong.

Answer 12

Provide the studies to show your point. Then quit if they don't fix it.

Can you just go back to your regular cubicle or office? That is what I would do.

Answer 13

I would totally ditch that company.

There is no excuse for that type of crap in my opinion.

Look at what Joel On Software thinks of stupid stuff like this:

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/12/29.html

Answer 14

I worked in one a number of years back and loved it: lots of idea sharing, camaraderie and a sense of shared purpose. We actually had semi-private offices as well (2 people per office) where we could read, talk on the phone, etc. But, by and large, I much preferred being in the "war room." It helped a lot that I had developed close friendships with many of my coworkers over the years that we worked together.

I'm not necessarily saying that shared environments are necessarily good but, in our case, it worked out very well. I know most people don't like the idea (ex. private offices are part of the Joel test), but I add my observation just to raise the possibility that this can actually be a good thing.