Winston Churchill, Thomas Jefferson, and Ernest Hemmingway were known to use stand up desks. Standing while working increases energy levels and concentration. “Thinking on your feet” is better than “thinking on your ass”.  Some even advocate a walking desk, if you can believe that…working on a treadmill. Standing has other benefits, including keeping meetings short. We’re not suggesting that you stand all day, every day…though some do. Instead, the best solution available today is the adjustable height, sit-stand desk.Check out these fine adjustable height desks:
The Ergo Mesa (and many others) from Martin and Ziegler
The Milk Desk
 
the Airtouch table from Steelcase.

 The Electronic Corner Desk from ErgoInDemand
 
The ErgoMotion MotionDesk 
        
The ErgoTierFX and  ErgoTierZX …
 
…and Dual Tier Carts from afc Industries. 

Pair programming is a key component of many agile methodologies. Two minds working together really are better than each working separately, even if only one of them is typing at a time. Two developers crammed into a cubicle, however, is far from the optimal setup. If you’re serious about pair programming, you should create an environment that lends itself well to pairing.

Going back to our post on multiple monitors, one of the first things you can do to improve your pairing is to improve your monitor situation. See the Caves and Commons page for more multi-monitor setups. When you have enough monitors, you can mirror them so that each developer can see what’s going on comfortably, without hunching over the other’s shoulder. Indeed, with mirroring, paired developers don’t even need to be sitting side by side…they could be seated at different desks facing each other and using back-to-back multiple monitors:

Flatscreen Brackets from Consul - LCD Mounting Arms for Back-to-Back Multiple Monitors

Now that we’ve got the monitor situation under control, let’s turn our attention to the desk itself. It turns out, there are all kinds of options for desks made for two, like these:

I especially like the ones on wheels, that can be moved into various team rooms as needed.

From: Ergo In Demand, Inc.

From: Ergo In Demand, Inc.

And this one from Versa Tables

Meetings. Few things are more toxic, more detrimental to team productivity, and more expensive than traditional meetings. As agile developers, we know we should avoid them when possible. In the meantime, anything we can do to make a meeting less like a meeting can help.

The goal is to avoid meetings. Every minute you avoid spending in a meeting is a minute you can get real work done instead.Getting Real - 37 Signals

Some ideas for having “less ordinary” meetings:

	Sadly, this “Digital Yurt” concept by Steelcase never made it out of concept stage…but what a cool idea. “…meant for a small group of people to brainstorm in. The center features a circular pad of paper table which allows everyone to doodle and write notes. When the page gets full, tear it away and there is a clean sheet under it.” [via CubeMe]
Cloud meeting room Cloud is the portable room for meeting, resting and concentrating. The room is easy to transport from place to place and is installed in three minutes. A quiet fan keeps the room inflated as long as needed.
Ok, so maybe this is less practical, but if you have an extra $20,000 laying around…there’s the Conference Bike

Don’t have a dual/triple monitor video card?

The Matrox DualHead2Go and TripleHead2Go Graphics expansion modules will allow you to add multiple monitors by connecting a small external box to your laptop or desktop to provide multi-monitor capability where there previously was none.

As we’ve mentioned before, having enough “screen real estate” is a key factor in increasing productivity.  For some tips on making the most of your multi-monitor setup, see “The Large Display Paradox” [via Lifehacker] and “Make the Most of You Dual Monitors”

Check out these multi-monitor options

Expandable LCD Monitor Mount - Four Monitors Flush Mount Four LCD monitors weighing up to 20 lbs each and measuring 23″ each can be situated on a horizontal bar raised on the flush desk mount system. Up to 6 inches of vertical adjustment possible with this system’s innovative hand crank. This is advantageous in a work environment where shifts change and different people use the same station. Maintain 2-1/2″ of forward and aft movement

I think four might be as many as I could effectively use, but there’s no need to stop there…why not try eight?

And for making the best use of those extra monitors, Windows users will want to download UltraMon. A single license is $39.95 (well worth it), and there’s a full-featured trial version available. We especially love the window management and smart taskbar features.

From the Wall Street Journal, Pleasing Google’s Tech-Savvy Staff:

At most organizations, technology is done by one organization, and is very locked-down and very standardized. You don’t have the freedom to do anything. Google’s model is choice. We let employees choose from a bunch of different machines and different operating systems, and [my support group] supports all of them. It’s a little bit less cost-efficient — but on the other hand, I get slightly more productivity from my [Google’s] employees. More…

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the invention of the cubicle.

Reviled by workers, demonized by designers, disowned by its very creator, it still claims the largest share of office furniture sales–$3 billion or so a year–and has outlived every “office of the future” meant to replace it. It is the Fidel Castro of office furniture. –Fortune

Rather than launch into a diatribe on the abject and unspeakable evil of cubicles, we are going to assume that if you are reading this blog you probably already hate them. There, we just saved ourselves three whole paragraphs. The prickly question remains, however, of what to replace them with.

Caves and Commons
People often forget that the classic XP teamroom has always been talked about in terms of “Caves and Commons”. The team needs a place to work together, to share ideas, and to hammer out solutions to problems. More than that, the team needs common areas in order to build the kind of culture that allows developers to collaborate effectively. But no one lives in the common areas all the time. Each developer needs a “cave” to return to, a place that allows focused concentration without interruption.

You probably gain some benefit by simply redesigning your office space by rearranging your existing cubicle walls. Try creating a common area in the center, surrounded by private workspaces. Take extra care in positioning the private areas such that “line of sight” distractions are minimized when the developer is in his “cave”.

But if you have the kind of boss/space planner that can grasp the financial benefit of having happy, focused, and effectively collaborating developers (crazy talk, we know), and is willing to pay for it…then indeed, blessed art thou among software developers. As it turns out, there are a lot of very interesting options available for those with the courage escape the cubicle workcamps.

	The Knoll A3, or ‘Anti-Cubicle’ is a modern, configurable system available in several different sizes and shapes. It’s designed to maintain an open feel and still provide some measure of privacy. Check it out here (warning, Flash)
	We’ve mentioned Softwall before, and we still think it’s incredibly cool.
	We are big fans of sunlight, and anything that lets in more of it. The white version of the Softwall (above) is a perfect example of this. So are these Steelcase Pathways Privacy Walls. Very, very nice.
	And take a look at the frosted acrylic used by FogCreekSoftware. Check out their architect’s site for even more pictures. (warning: Flash - click “Commercial” then “Fog Creek Software”

Keep checking back on our Caves and Commons page for more cool post-cubicle products and ideas.

A happy programmer is a productive programmer. That’s why we optimize for happiness and you should too. Don’t just pick tools and practices based on industry standards or performance metrics. Look at the intangibles: Is there passion, pride, and craftmanship here? Would you truly be happy working in this environment eight hours a day?
– from Getting Real, a book by 37 Signals.

You can never have too many whiteboards. Whether you’re designing your next product feature, keeping a list of upcoming tasks, or just doodling, having plenty of available visual design space is crucial.

As far as I’m concerned you can never have too much whiteboard space, and luckily whiteboards are incredibly inexpensive. My preference is for having whiteboards floor to ceiling wherever empty wall exists, even on support pillars if they’re more than a foot (30 cm) or so in width. Developers should have their own private whiteboard space so they can sketch diagrams on them, either alone, with their development pair (many projects teams, particularly XP teams, follow a pair programming approach), or with several co-workers. Don’t have this whiteboard space? Talk to your facilities people, the folks responsible for the physical premises within your organization, and tell them that it’s a priority for your team. Not allowed to have whiteboards? Either have senior management pull some strings for you or simply install the whiteboards yourself and ask for forgiveness later. Did you know you can purchase whiteboard wallpaper? I’ve used it and it works. If you can’t find whiteboard wallpaper you next option is to purchase 8’ by 4’ sheets of whiteboard. Using either technology within a couple of hours you can easily cover a large room.
– Scott Ambler at AgileModeling.com

Why not cover a whole wall with dry-erase wallpaper? If you want, you can put a strip of molding around it to make it look like a regular whiteboard, or just go floor to ceiling. It even comes in clear and grids.

For the really high-tech, and especially good for working with remote teams, check out these electronic whiteboards from Panasonic

And my personal favorite, (after the wallpaper) : These sliding whiteboards

See these and more on the Information Radiators page

Partition your office however you need to, and change it easily when you need to. Using Softwall, you can do better than boring, stifling, depressing cubicles. [also via Chief Happiness Officer] I’m starting to get the impression that all the coolest office furniture is made in Denmark.