Breaking Down Walls, Building Bridges, and Takin’ Out the Trash

Rich: "I think you’re wrong about this...I think the physical space is critical..."
Me: "Seriously? You think space comes before culture? "
Rich: "Yeah. I think the space enables the cultural change."

We were riding together in Rich’s Saturn VUE, about 120 miles into a 250 mile trip to Chicago. We had been talking about an article I had been asked to write about building out agile workspaces. This article, in fact.

I had been rolling over ideas in my head for a while. The more I thought about constructing workspaces for agile teams, the less important the physical characteristics seemed to me. I thought that if all you do is rearrange your furniture, you’re likely not going to be successful. Yet at the same time, I had to admit that Rich was probably right too. If you change a bunch of things about how your team operates, but keep them sequestered in cubes and private offices, you’re likely not going to be successful either.

This is obviously an issue with some complexity.

Virtually all my "agile experience" comes from working at Menlo Innovations in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Our current space is approximately 4,500 sq/ft. and we’ve been here for almost 5 years. The initial build-out for the site was actually a tear-down. We removed all the non-structural walls to convert many different small storage spaces and private offices in to a single, contiguous space.

That’s right. No private offices. No cubicles. The whole team working in one place. This is part of the very important practice of collocation. Here’s a picture of our team space:

We’ve chosen to cover the walls in homasote, a cellulose-based fiber wallboard similar to corkboard, but the material isn’t as important as its purpose. We use it so we have a way to tack up the week’s story cards along with other important project artifacts. This is vital because it provides easy access to project-related information and helps us practice transparency within the organization. Because we keep all of this information public, we don’t bother the team with, "Hey! What are ya workin’ on? Are ya done yet?"

The walls also provide a place for fun, inspirational, and creative posters that remind us and our visitors and clients of who we are. For example, the biggest poster on our wall reads "Make Mistakes Faster!" This mandate supports the culture of innovation and exploration we’ve built and reminds our team members that it’s okay to make a mistake, that errors are not fatal.

There are also numerous white boards. This provides an informal gathering place for the team to brainstorm, problem solve, and share knowledge. We even have one that can print the contents of the white board, but more frequently we just shoot a digital picture for future reference.

The space needs to be reconfigured regularly as projects end, new projects begin, or current projects change size. To ease the strain on our aging backs we’ve chosen lightweight but strong five-foot AluLite™ aluminum tables. By keeping the tables uniformly sized, you can easily add another table or two to a project pod. Because they’re lightweight, the burden of reconfiguration is low. This means project teams - or even clients - can pull a few tables together to work for a few hours, a few days, or a few months.

The first problem we have, much like other organizations, is chairs. Everyone wants a different style of chair and has different needs. We’ve found it best to have a variety of chairs available, including some non-rolling chairs.

Another problem is storage. We have tried file cabinets (too immoveable). Rolling cabinets (too small). IKEA baskets (not bad, but labor intensive to assemble). Built in storage benches (became dumping grounds). What we found was that more visibility into the contents of the storage unit was important so that project artifacts are easily accessible and regularly archived. For now we’ve settled on a wall of lockers to contain personal items and bags and are using the IKEA baskets and shelves to store project artifacts.

Have faith - we’re not done iterating on that particular problem yet.

Finally, we’ve included pull-down power and network drops from the ceiling. This increases our flexibility because we are no longer tethered to posts or floor outlets. It also increases safety because we’re not running cables across the floor.

While helpful to facilitate physical interaction, none of these physical characteristics answers the question: Does space enable culture?

Our experience tells us that most organizations are not intentional about their culture, but often inherit a "default culture" that is derived from history, hiring practices, accepted behaviors (good and bad), experiences, and yes, the physical space in which the organization exists. Once an organization decides to make an intentional change to their culture, they must look at everything.

At Menlo Innovations we had the luxury of starting with an intentional culture. We decided on several key elements of that culture right from the start. These included transparency, openness, energy, engagement, sharing, flexibility, efficient communication, informality, access, helpfulness, mentoring, cross-training, laughter, noise, work, and visible accomplishments. While we would have the same cultural values no matter our environment, we wanted to ensure that our space would not interfere with our culture, therefore making sustainability easier. What more can we ask of our space?

We are frequently asked how we know the space is working for the team. I’m a show-and-tell kind of gal, so I like to offer an invitation for anyone to visit so they can judge for themselves. (We currently have about one "tour" a day, so a lot of folks have taken me up on the offer!) But you know what I really love? If something in the space isn’t working, the team is empowered to change it. Need more space? Different chair? Don’t like the pod configuration? Change it! It’s amazing how much easier that becomes when you don’t have to wait for a Millwright, search for the right-sized Allen wrench, or ask permission.

This type of workspace can be mentally stimulating with an infectious energy, but there are still some problems we’re trying to solve. One problem is instilling a sense of stewardship over the whole space, so that common areas (like the kitchen) aren’t seen as "someone else’s problem." It may not be glamorous, but loading and unloading the dishwasher are part of maintaining a healthy environment.

It’s not that we don’t have a cleaning crew. We do. But when 50 people share a space, there are just days when the space needs a little extra attention. One of the earliest memories I have of working at Menlo is coming in at 7:00 am and finding Rich - the company President, mind you - emptying the trash because it needed emptying. That simple act instilled something very important in my mind: In a successful team, there are no tasks that are beneath you.

You have doubts about this, don’t you? You have questions. You’re thinking, "This all sounds great, but what about the problems? Tell me about the problems!"

Problems? Like noise? Messiness?

It is loud. When you have 50-70 folks in a room all talking with their partners, or having whiteboard discussions, or disagreements, or even laughing and enjoying themselves, sometimes it’s REALLY loud. What we’ve seen is that there’s an adaptation period of about three weeks for new team members, while their brain habituates (i.e. adjusts) to the new environment.

There’s actually some physiology at work here. The part of the brain that makes you notice some things but not others is called the reticular formation. (Check it out on Wikipedia if you want to know more about the science bits. Also check out "Cocktail Party Effect" while you’re there.) The short story is that once your brain habituates, it can filter out stimuli that are irrelevant for you and likewise raise your attention when relevant stimuli occur. Irrelevant, like someone discussing plans for the weekend. Relevant, like someone saying, "Well I’m just going to delete that suite of tests..." or even simply saying your name.

Unfortunately, not everyone is able to make that adaptive leap. We’ve had some talented folks come work for us that ultimately couldn’t adjust to the noise and lack of personal space. We’re okay with that. We know that our environment won’t work for everyone.

Note that this isn’t to say there aren’t times when folks need a few muted moments of quiet to collect their thoughts. When that’s the case our usual recommendation is 1) take your partner with you, then 2) take a walk around the block or go get a cup of coffee downstairs in the coffee shop. In a crunch, if someone really, desperately feels the need for some "library quiet" they have two options: 1) they can go sit in the area we've reserved for headache victims and lactating mothers (i.e. comfy chair, soft lighting, relatively quiet space) or 2) we share a small bit of our office space with another company that has a sound-dampened room - we simply ask them if we can borrow it for as long as we need.

Truth be told, it really doesn't come up that often. This is likely because we actively recruit for cultural fit first and part of that culture is working in the open, shoulder-to-shoulder with your teammates, with a pair partner, all day long, every day.

The lack of "library silence" can make meetings a challenge. While our daily standup meeting is no trouble - we have a single standup (of about 15 minutes) where all team members (from all project teams) and any visitors participate - finding space for small meetings, or meetings with clients, can be...interesting. Honestly, the challenge with clients (particularly new clients) is that the noise and energy of the space can be overwhelming. While we do have a conference table tucked into one corner of our space, it’s not used very often. Our preference is to start exposing clients to our work environment as soon as possible. After all, our expectation is that they are going to come in at least once a week to work with the team on planning and to work through show & tell.

We recognize that it’s not a perfect system.

More than once it’s been suggested that maybe we need movable walls, or flexible partitions. While that would likely help reduce noise, it would also reduce serendipity. We’re counting on teams overhearing one another. Culturally, we believe this exchange of knowledge across projects is a big factor in our success. We expect it to occur within the pair, within the project pod, and across projects. This builds knowledge on all projects within all team members. In other words, everyone here knows at least a little of what’s going on with every other project, even me.

And messiness? Yeah. That’s a problem. Again it’s an issue of stewardship of the space. Sometimes the team just needs a reminder to clean up.

We’ve been in our current space almost five years and our space continues to change, grow, and evolve. We’ve hung more homasote and white boards on the walls. We removed a staircase and joined the floor so that the space would be contiguous. (Yes, we found that even a mere 15-foot gap was interfering with communication!) We added a kitchen. As our needs change, the workspace changes. We recognize that the workspace we built 10 years ago wouldn’t work for the organization we are today. Sometimes the workspace we built 10 days ago is no longer the right workspace, so we change it.

One unexpected benefit of our workspace is the excitement it generates with our clients. There are many clients who ask, "Can I just hang out in your space and work on my stuff? I promise I won't bother anybody!" This is a common occurrence and one we fully support. Many of our potential clients have heard about our unique space, so when it comes time to talk to us about their project, they offer to come to our place instead of asking us to come to theirs. This adds to the team's own pride in their workspace and adds to the joy they experience everyday by being part of Menlo Innovations.

I’d like to leave you with a final thought as you consider your own workspace. To paraphrase Churchill: We form our spaces, and then our spaces form us (for good or for ill). Make a positive, constructive, or fun change - even a small one - in your workspace today. You’ll be happy you did and the results just might surprise you.

Lisamarie Babik (Evangelist) has travelled the USA, Canada, Panama, and Mexico speaking about Agile and its relationship with formal project management.  She has been working full-time with Agile teams for more than seven years and has more than two decades of experience in the software industry. (She's older than she looks!)  She is certified by the Project Management Institute as a Project Management Professional (PMP).

Richard Sheridan's (President & CEO)  team at Menlo Innovations breaks all the rules and, in doing so, produces phenomenal results for its customers. No walls, offices, doors or cubes -- one big open room, a la Edison's original invention factory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. In this noisy, fun atmosphere Menlo has produced software for all walks of industry from health care, to scientific equipment, to high-fashion ecommerce, to diesel motor vehicle diagnostics, and many more. Sheridan and his team regularly are invited to present nationally and internationally sharing the secrets of the Menlo Software Factory™ with all who wish to learn how to build a Learning Organization that can keep pace with today's advances in software and design. He has been working with Agile teams for more than a decade and has recently undertaken a new mission: returning joy to the world of software development.