IT office environment design and layout

Published by: jane 2010-03-16

Hello, There seems to be a possible difference between normal office environments and those designed to suite IT Developers specifically. I'm interested in brief information about a suitable layout of such an office, keeping in mind that there are other sorts of people in that office, such as support staff, admin and sales. Issues such as excessive interaction, noise levels and distractions as well as the negativity of feeling like being in a coffin. What is considered as a good balance? Some of the staff I have spoken with prefer a totally open cubical where they see and hear everything, having been in one which they had closed cubicals. I disagree with that and think it could possibly be a reaction and that being in an open environment with all those visual and noise distractions around would cause great discomfort and reduced levels of focusing. Examples of office layout designs in graphical format as well as images of those interior designs would be very helpful. This posting may have been better placed under an architecture related category, though I felt the goal was of business productivity and staff satisfaction. /Lizardnation

Hello Jrl, I'll checkout the book and find out more about it. Thanks! :-) /Lizardnation

Additional articles I have found to supplementmy answer: Interview with Hall Davidson http://www.cio.com/archive/090100_interview.html Office Fantasies Of The Future by Nicholas Stein http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=artcol.jhtml&doc_id=00001846 The New Workplace http://www.businessweek.com/1996/18/b34731.htm Whatever Space Works for You by Laurein Goldstein http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=artcol.jhtml&doc_id=00000917 Workplace Strategies for Dynamic Organizations http://iwsp.human.cornell.edu/pubs/excerpts/odws_excerpt.HTML http://iwsp.human.cornell.edu/pubs/excerpts/odws_excerpt2.HTML http://iwsp.human.cornell.edu/pubs/excerpts/odws_excerpt3.HTML Additional office layout http://www.cio.com/archive/050199_build_contenthuman.html

Hi once more! The issues about office designs have never been fierier especially with the advent of IT companies. With new technology, offices now like stores can be physical and also virtual with telecommuting becoming more an option and accepted by companies. According to this article office designs whether for technology based companies or the following influences other industries: a. “Office design should reflect the needs of the work and employees, as well as the structure of corporate philosophy.” b. The focus is on a teamwork-oriented environment. c. It must attract employees thereby influencing retention. This article also has office designs from Teledesic and other companies. Complexity of New Office Designs: Thinking Through Your Future Workplace by Mary Colette Wallace, Associate AIA, Wallace Research Group http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/nov00/wallace.htm Sample office designs from Future at Work http://www.future-at-work.org/exhibit/takelook.html http://www.future-at-work.org/exhibit/tal_floorplan02.html In the article “IT Builds its Dream House” by David Pearson the physical characteristics must: a. Support IT staff b. Must be able to efficiently maintain hardware infrastructure c. Flexible design must support for changing needs of static spaces. There is a design for the office buildings but the rollover script does not work, at least on my browser. http://www.cio.com/archive/050199_build.html The following are descriptions of different office design types: CUBE Stakes http://www.cio.com/archive/enterprise/041599_wksp_content.html I do hope that this would be of help to you. Please ask for a clarification if you require additional information. Thanks again. Regards, Easterangel-ga

Tom DeMarco goes into great detail on this subject in his book Peopleware - Productive Projects and Teams. A "must" read!

Hi Lizardnation, let me add some things to Easterangel's answer. You can combine open and closed spaces, specifically suited for teams that need to work together. That is, seperate rooms, round tables in each, screens facing the outer circle, additional hardware alongside the walls. Just remember it's bad if a screen faces an open door -- you don't have to go back to Feng-Shui books to figure out that one. (Yes, the table closest to the door is bad off for the other reason of being the "default space" where anybody entering the room puts work & papers of unknown destiny.) So, there's reasonable arguments in favor of balanced mixtures as opposed to either-or approaches. I don't want to see all members of the staff all day, but I need to see some co-workers practically constanly (for one thing, to be able to quickly communicate problems and solutions). I wouldn't want to work in a closed room. And on some occasions, the door needs to be closed. It's good to have a plan, but especially in the first weeks, allow for flexible rearrangements -- not only of chairs and tables, but off staff combinations as well.

Hello J_Philipp, Thanks for the comments, yes those were details that would surely impact the environment. Having segmented areas of specific tailored needs is a great idea. /Lizardnation

As always, you bring in the results.