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Comment by hinkley | Hacker News Reader

Spolsky’s office design missed a few critical elements (he had a couple of articles about offices and I don’t recognize the one linked here). IIRC he didn’t avoid the cardinal sin of office design which is politicizing windows.

First, developers think they want windows and then they can’t handle the light. So the people with windows close them and then nobody gets to use the windows. And news flash, it can be really hot next to a window. Better to pull the desks back and put the walkways near the window.

Also when you have 9 key employees and 7 window seats you end up snubbing 2 people you wouldn’t want to live without. That shit is part of the calculus of turnover.

Far better to put little tables with three chairs by the windows. Someone can take a break, or have a quick tête-à-tête there. It’s everyone’s window.

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Or you make an office in which every seat is a window seat?

No, because GP is arguing that, even though window offices are status symbols, working next to a window has issues (heat/light) that often results in people covering the windows. Better to put common areas like walkways near windows.

All my career I have worked in 1-4 person offices with enough window space on one or two sides. When the sun comes around, close the blinds a bit.

It's possible, just not with open floor plans and cubicles.

My desk is next to a window. It has literally never been an issue, and always a pleasure.

Airconditioning, positioning and judicious use of blinds is always enough.

Agree here, I have a desk by a window (with quite lovely view frankly), but I have a blind down most time because the sun, the sun is very bright and very hot and can heat faster than the AC can cool. I even had to get the partial light blocking blind replaced with a full light blocking blind. The sun light wasn't even hitting my monitor, the orientation of everything meant it just hit me straight in the face blinding me for part of the day. I still like the window seat, but it isn't all great for sure.

Yeah, that orientation makes all of the difference. My current space has an entire wall of windows but 1) the building is oriented such that we don't get direct sunlight because our side is almost directly north facing, and 2) there are very large Oak/shade trees lining the length of the building on our side. We're fortunate and we've actually had to fight a couple of minor battles to hang onto our space.

That's most likely what Spolsky meant. He was at Microsoft in the '90s, meaning he would have been familiar with the layouts of Buildings 1-6 & 8-10, which were two story cross shaped or linked pairs of crosses shaped structures designed to maximize the number of window offices.

A number of later buildings were H shaped, probably for similar reasons.

The original MS buildings looks fantastic. It’s very much human sized.

Two stories, large windows, green surroundings.

Of course it was inevitable they’d tear it all down to replace it with open offices shakes head

Microsoft campus is a virtual anomaly for Seattle office space. Every space I’ve ever seen has had one window for every three to six employees. Unless you have a north facing window, the sun will typically be a problem for part of the day.

I’ve seen a few spaces where closely spaced buildings provide some afternoon protection for the lower floors, but that is relatively rare.

Coatings have gotten better over time, but most people don’t understand that glare is worst when the monitor is pointed straight at your eyes, and a little bit of tilt will solve most of your problems.

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