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The new Campaign Monitor office

August 24, 2010

Towards the end of 2009 we really started pushing the limits of our current space. All our closed offices were taken and we were squeezing more and more team members into crowded workstations. Eventually it looked like we'd need to get rid of the precious ping pong table to free up space. To avoid a staff revolt, we started the search for a new office.

Our space at the time was located right across from a park and near the beach. It's a great spot, so when we learned we could take over almost the entire floor instead of relocating elsewhere it was an easy choice. Construction started in November 2009 and we excitedly moved in last month. I wanted to walk you through the finished product in the hope that you might find something useful to take away and apply to your own workplace.

Here's a quick video tour of the end result to whet your appetite.

A video tour of the new office, shot and edited by Ben (you can also watch it on Vimeo)

Getting the balance right

In our experience, the ideal office environment is about finding the right balance between socializing and getting stuff done. Too much of one or the other has its downsides, but there are some fundamentals you can put in place to help get that balance right. It should be easy for everyone to remove any distractions, put their head down and get into the zone. Just as importantly, they should be able to take a break, hang out with other members of the team and generally switch off.

To make this happen, we teamed up with the same architects who designed our last office and gave them this simple brief:

Closed offices for everyone.
Large dining area where we can all eat lunch together.
Enough space to cater for our ping pong obsession.

After a few iterations the new design really took shape. The architect came up with the idea of having a huge open area right down the middle of the space containing the kitchen, dining, library, gaming area and lounges. Flowing either side of this open space would be two corridors of offices. They managed to fit 40 private offices into the new design, more than enough for the 20 staff in our Sydney office with plenty of room to grow.

40 private offices and loads of open space - See the full plan (PDF)

Why private offices beat open plan

For us, private offices were non-negotiable. Over the years we've had fully open plan, only offices and a combination of both. In my experience, closable offices for each team member are by far the best configuration for a software company. I think Paul Graham said it best:

"After software, the most important tool to a hacker is probably his office. Big companies think the function of office space is to express rank. But hackers use their offices for more than that: they use their office as a place to think in. And if you're a technology company, their thoughts are your product. So making hackers work in a noisy, distracting environment is like having a paint factory where the air is full of soot."

Paul Graham, Great Hackers

Of course, I can understand why open plan is popular. It works for small teams. It's flexible, cost effective and gives the illusion of great communication. But the moment a team grows bigger than a few people, cracks start to appear.

Getting into the zone

When you're designing, building and supporting software, you need to juggle lots of complex ideas in your head at once. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour of thinking about a problem, and that's when the juicy stuff starts flowing. You get in the zone and solutions start presenting themselves.

The last thing you want is to bother that person with a stupid question, force them to overhear your phone conversation or any other kind of distraction that isn't related to what they're working on. I don't care how disciplined your team is or how good your noise cancelling headphones are, this kind of interruption is unavoidable in an open plan office.

Jesse working interruption-free on the Campaign Monitor UI

The research is in

This isn't just anecdotal either. There's been plenty of interesting research into open plan vs closed offices too. A study by Microsoft showed just how destructive interruptions can be to productivity. Here's some commentary by Bill D’Alessandro on the findings:

"The researchers taped 29 hours of people working in a typical office, and found that they were interrupted on average four times each hour. Here’s the kicker – 40% of the time, the person did not resume the task they were working on before the interruption. The more complex the task, the less likely the person was to resume working on it after an interruption."

Microsoft Research, A Diary Study of Task Switching and Interruptions (PDF)

Last year a team of Australian scientists came to a similar conclusion. They found that working in an open plan office leads to lower productivity and higher staff stress.

"The evidence we found was absolutely shocking. In 90 per cent of research, the outcome of working in an open-plan office was seen as negative. It has been found that the high level of noise causes employees to lose concentration, leading to low productivity. The research found that the traditional design was better - small, private closed offices."

Dr Vinesh Oommen, Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management

There's no doubt that open plan is more flexible and cheaper than putting in private offices. But is 20-30% extra in your fit out costs enough to justify all the extra interruptions? It's not just about productivity either. Solving challenging problems and getting things done is a much more rewarding experience on a personal level too.

Big, well lit offices with closable doors

The closed door policy

It's only slightly harder to walk in someones office to ask a question than to yell across an open plan office. Having private offices is one thing, but you need to have a system of mutual respect in place for them to work. At Campaign Monitor we have a simple rule: If my door is shut, don't interrupt me.

It's common sense anyway, but making this clear to everyone has made a big difference. If you want to get stuff done, shut the door and you won't be bothered. If anyone needs to talk to you, they can come back later, send you an email or leave a message in Campfire that you can reply to when it suits.

Don't forget the social side

Like I mentioned earlier, you need to find the right balance between removing interruptions and spending time with the rest of the team. While we all get out of the office for some crazy activities every few weeks, we also made sure the new space included plenty of room to hang out together.

Eating a meal together every day

At SXSW earlier this year I was lucky enough to have dinner with the founders from great companies I respect like 37signals, Wufoo, Dropbox and Freshbooks. The dinner was organised by the always awesome Dharmesh Shah, the man behind HubSpot and On Startups. At the dinner, Dharmesh shared a little secret of his that I hope he doesn't mind me passing on here.

He explained that the best conversations almost always happen over a meal. Because of this, he organises many of his meetings to take place over lunch or dinner. He even goes as far as to research the best location in a restaurant (quiet area, round table) beforehand.

Dharmesh's experience reinforced my belief in the value of the entire Campaign Monitor team eating together each day. We provide free breakfast and catered lunches which brings everyone out of their offices and together for a meal. The conversations aren't necessarily work related, but are always entertaining and a great way for us to get to know each other, especially those we don't work with often. It's my favourite part of the day.

The team sharing lunch together in our new dining area

A new kitchen and coffee machine

In the same vein, we also installed a massive new kitchen that's fast becoming a popular congregation spot. To keep up with the serious coffee demands of some team members, we also installed an integrated and programmable coffee machine so staff can set up their own coffee profiles for the perfect cup.

The new kitchen

Library and games

The architect also came up with some beautiful joinery that runs the length of the new dining area to house our growing book collection. To satisfy our ping pong obsession he managed to fit in two new championship tables, some custom joinery for bat/ball storage and a touch screen scoring system.

The new ping pong arena

For those wanting to recover from a hard game of ping pong, we also added a new lounge and gaming area with a few consoles and an increasingly popular Guitar Hero setup.

Xbox 360, Wii and Guitar Hero ready for after work sessions

The new space has been quite the journey. The planning started around a year ago and construction went from the end of last year to just last month. It was a long process, but has been totally worth it. If you want to see more pics, we've thrown together a photo gallery on Flickr. Many thanks goes to This Ain't No Disco and Office Snapshots for featuring us on their blogs.

Looking to fill one more office

If you like what you see and you're a talented UI designer, we've just opened up a brand new position on the team. Check out the details to see if you fit the bill.

Posted in: Behind the Scenes

120 Comments

Bjarni
August 24, 2010 3:37pm

Very nice environment indeed
Martin H. Normark
August 24, 2010 3:45pm

That looks astonishing! Who wouldn’t be inspired to work in an environment like that?
Alan van Roemburg
August 24, 2010 3:48pm

Beautiful office guys! Congrats.
Anthony Short
August 24, 2010 3:54pm

I can’t even begin to think about the amount of work I could get done in an environment like that. Amazing!
Brendan Falkowski
August 24, 2010 4:07pm

Interesting notes about the architecture and productivity. Love the kitchen lighting too.
Dean Robinson
August 24, 2010 4:23pm

o_O Very nice, very nice indeed. Love the video and all the background info and reasoning behind the choices too.
Brian Klepper
August 24, 2010 4:35pm

Wow! What an amazing working environment, congrats on the hard work.
Justin
August 24, 2010 4:51pm

Wow - Stunning! Amazing space…
Bjorn van der Neut
August 24, 2010 4:56pm

Looks like you have a great company and the atmosphere looks awesome!
Niclas
August 24, 2010 5:15pm

I sent the video to my boss, maybe he’ll be encouraged to some modifications.. :)
Simeon
August 24, 2010 5:17pm

Great stuff guys, beats my home office hands down.
Quang
August 24, 2010 5:20pm

This beats my current setup 100-fold!
Sukh Dugal
August 24, 2010 5:38pm

Good work guys. There is a sense of rare calm which is good to see.
Mark
August 24, 2010 5:44pm

Beautiful and inspirational office guys. And interesting to read about the closed door policy.

We are about to move into new offices and are going through the same decisions. Exciting.
James Lipscomb
August 24, 2010 6:16pm

Wow! I love your offices, really inspiring and packed with nice ideas. Can I come work for you!!
Darren Bayliss
August 24, 2010 6:42pm

Fantastic, absolutely fantastic :)
Ian Haydon
August 24, 2010 6:44pm

Inspirational ping pong play!
Kaelig
August 24, 2010 7:00pm

Phoenix !

Love the french touch :)
Farrel
August 24, 2010 7:15pm

SHUT UP!!! WHAT!!!

I’m almost crying…
Ben Duncan
August 24, 2010 8:15pm

Awesome office guys - Where are the surfboards and a break after lunch? ;-)
Vero Pepperrell
August 24, 2010 8:31pm

Wow, just wow.

Dave, we can tell how much you care about your team and their wellbeing. This is entirely reflected in the incredibly thoughtful office layout, as well as in what I’ve witnesssed of team relationships over the years.

Giving this kind of support to your team means they’ll be able to give back in the quality of the work they do. Smart.

An inspiration to all businesses, small and large!
Sharon
August 24, 2010 9:40pm

In a previous life I employed my own ‘closed door’ policy for one hour every morning from 9 to 10. This meant I could focus on something that I considered important without interruption. I would have given my right arm for another hour a day with a closed door!

This aggravated my boss at the time no end. So many bosses / management structures struggle with delegating projects / jobs / tasks. Allowing people to take complete responsibilty for a task includes trusting them to manage their work and time - to be able to focus.

Dave you are setting up your team for success rather than mediocrity or failure.
Wayde Holmes
August 24, 2010 10:12pm

What is this ‘Templates’ screen design on Mr Dodds’ display?
Jesse Dodds
August 24, 2010 11:02pm

@Wayde:
You’ll just have to wait and see Mr. Eagle-eye :)
Martin Baker
August 24, 2010 11:35pm

Very nice. I particularly love the lighting strip design.
Brian Thies
August 24, 2010 11:45pm

Truly amazing!!
Anderson
August 25, 2010 12:34am

Truly inspiring.

A few questions:

1. So is the Freshview thing completely over? I notice reception still includes the old logo mark, but not the name.

2. And… what does “Who’s sick for this shit?” mean on the Lunch Order screen?
Salman
August 25, 2010 12:38am

How about going over the cost of your office? :)

Looks great!
Andy
August 25, 2010 1:32am

I read years and years ago that research had proven the most productive environment was individual offices surrounding a common area where you could have informal meetings. Looks like you’ve reached the same design !
Niall
August 25, 2010 1:37am

Personalised coffee profiles?! Best. Office. Ever! :-)

Great read, thanks for sharing.
Joshua Hughes (Fifty Digital)
August 25, 2010 1:37am

Incredible! I do love it when teams do lunch together. Takes a work day to a whole new level.
Joseph
August 25, 2010 2:28am

Jeez, these are really nice digs.
Aaron
August 25, 2010 2:30am

Wow! That office looks stunning. Love it! Thanks for sharing!
Raphael Campardou
August 25, 2010 2:41am

The office looks remarkably quiet and we know those ping pong tables are only for luring in new recruits.

You gotta love the Rework reference in the video.
Daniel Sroka
August 25, 2010 3:20am

Wow, I really love the new space, and love your philosophy over work space (private offices, closed door policy, coffee maker). Making me jealous!
Rick
August 25, 2010 5:36am

Looks truly great and no doubt it will work inspiring.

Question is for how long, no? I expect these employees are human and adapt to their surroundings. So sooner or later, routine will kick in. And then what?

But again, it looks very smart and am very jealous!
Andrew Cornett
August 25, 2010 6:55am

Really stunning guys.
Derek
August 25, 2010 7:02am

Very nice! How many square meters do you guys have now in total and how big (average) is an office?
Jason Foss
August 25, 2010 8:36am

Inspiring. I am extremely jealous! :)
Jim Richards
August 25, 2010 9:38am

How do you get any work done with all those distractions? Free coffee, food? Ping pong? A park and beach nearby?

Inside I’m dying. Back to the cubicle.
David Greiner
August 25, 2010 10:06am

Thans for all the amazing comments everyone, I’ve passed all your kind words on to our architect and builders too.

@Anderson: Freshview is basically the name of of the company, and Campaign Monitor is a trading name. We’re slowly phasing mentions of Freshview out, and will update the Freshview site to reflect that soon. As for “Who’s sick for this shit? in our lunch app, it basically means “who else really likes this meal”. Personally, I prefer or version.

@Derek: All up we have about 750 square meters of office space, plus some parking and a bike rack on the ground floor.
Ashul Shah
August 25, 2010 2:16pm

David,

You have set two standards for me and my business.

1. .NET devs can be cool and work in a cool environment
2. Seeing your growth over the last few years makes me feel inspired and determined to follow suit!

Congratulations to all involved great story :)
Paul Khoo
August 25, 2010 3:03pm

Very impressive. I’ve been there and ping ponged there and enjoyed it. I hope Tricia’s ping pong has improved. Has she been working too hard and not practising enough ping pong? Congratulations.
Scott
August 25, 2010 3:04pm

Congrats! You guys are building an amazing company.
Matthias
August 25, 2010 4:13pm

Great office, unfortunately the video seems to be down.
Tijs De Boeck
August 25, 2010 4:39pm

Great new office! I’d love to see some technical stuff as well, I’m very much into that stuff as well, since it’s an important part of you offices.

Could you do a blog post maybe on what kind of hardware you use, software etc, all the stuff to that makes all the stuff you’re building possible…

Thanks!
Tijs
David Greiner
August 25, 2010 4:57pm

@Matthias, sorry about that. It’s a licensing issue in germany with the Phoenix song we have in the background. You can check out the same movie on Vimeo, which should work everywhere.
suhail
August 25, 2010 6:28pm

instead of a cabin for each and every individual, i would prefer to sit in the same area with my colleagues and work together, so at any time we can communicate, no need to walk to the other cabin to communicate to your colleague or to chat on im or call on phone, i feel a face to face interaction and conversations are much better when working in team, it really does make a difference.
David Greiner
August 25, 2010 6:44pm

@suhail: While being able to easily interrupt a workmate to get your own question answered might suit you, it sure doesn’t suit the person getting interrupted.
Nicola Connolly
August 25, 2010 6:46pm

Inspiring set-up guys! Looks like a great working environment; fun and professional. Really interesting to hear the reasoning behind your choices too, thanks for sharing :)

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