I’ve got an idea for you. If you try this let me know how it works.
We’ve all seen the pictures of team spaces. Some are open spaces with a single, long desk that everyone sits at. Others are cube farms. The rest are typically some variation.
What I’ve found though is that someone in management determined how to group everyone. It might be by team, department, or some other means. But it was management that decided this.
What if we threw out that concept and let everyone sit wherever they wanted to?
I picture the same type of space you have now, only people can be free to sit at whatever computer they want.
Having a background in IT and experience setting up big corporate networks, I know it can be done. It’s called roaming profiles. It might take some time to be sure that everyone has the same applications, but it can be done.
Heck, you can even store TextMate configs in a git repo. You are using source control aren’t you? I thought so.
What I’m curious about is how people will self-organize at the group level, not just the team level. Who will they sit by? Will a dev working with a BA sit side-by-side? Will developers and designers sit beside each other while working on a feature?
I can imagine the speed at which collaboration could take place in an environment like this.
If you’re network is up to the challenge and you try this, let me know.
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I've seen it a couple of times and it was always rather poor idea. If you think about 4-5 people team which is well organized and people like each other they will likely to appreciate some freedom. But then, they will tend to sit close to each other anyway.
If you think about big teams you must consider cases like “BA wants to sit next to me, but I don't want to see him anywhere close because he keeps distracting me.” I remember one of PMs I worked with – he was virtually hated by everyone sitting in close neighborhood because of his often and loud phone calls. As you may guess he loved to work with developers shoulder-to-shoulder (or standing over their heads) but this affection was never returned.
Great point Pawel. Just because people can sit together doesn't mean they should.
I look forward to seeing you next month in Poland.