Stand up

Danielle on my Desk
Originally uploaded by riebschlager

A couple of weeks ago I experimented with a standing desk, which meant dragging my monitors onto a shelf, putting my keyboard up higher and generally shuffling my desk about. It wasn't to be a permanent solution, but more to see if I thought it would be worth getting a permanent setup.

The first couple of days were pretty painful, it's been a while since I've stood up all day, but after a weekend I was feeling good. I felt like I had a lot more focus and didn't waste as much time on facebook and twitter, which was nice to feel that I was getting more done. I think it's also great for programmers, as pair programming would work well as opposed to having a corner sitting desk (which is what I currently work at), allowing better access to swap the keyboard and improved screen visibility.

Unfortunately my wrists weren't a big fan of the awkward position that I'd placed my keyboard in - without a solid desk to rest on they just started to flare up. So, I'm back sitting down waiting for my wrists to recover, and hopefully get my desk setup properly.

If you're interested in standing desks, Lifehacker is a great place to check out to start with.

Do you have a non-standard workplace? How did you make it happen? Does your workplace encourage you to work in a way that helps you work best, or do they want you to just sit there and stick to the standard way of doing things?

Where does your seat sit?

1-12-10 Another Day in the Cube
Originally uploaded by Patric Woessner

At work today, we had a bit of a chat about our physical work environment. Currently we've got an open plan setup happening, everyone faces into their corner of the workspace, and we've got space for a whiteboard. One of the issues with the current setup is that pair programming and code reviewing is a bit hard - trying to fit 2 people into a corner doesn't really work very well, and we want to start doing more code reviews to up the quality of our work.

I know that some people are big advocates of the 'everyone get's an office' idea, and have been reading Joel Spolsky's blog - particularly about office space. I think it'd be great to have my own office, but we don't really have the space, so we're trying to think about how we can work better in the space that we've got.

One idea is to have a large table that we all work at in the middle of the area, with whiteboards around the outside so we can draw and discuss ideas. Another possibility is to all work around the edge of the area, facing the wall, but not have anyone sitting in the corners - which will help with pairing and collaboration. A space would be reserved for a whiteboard, and we could wheel in another whiteboard in and out when we needed.

Anyway, hopefully over the next couple of months we can figure out a way to work better together, which may include a redesign of our physical work environment.

How do you work best with your team? Do you sit near each other? How does working remotely affect your collaboration?