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The new Campaign Monitor office

August 25, 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

Matthias
August 26, 2010 6:39pm

@David: thanks, that’s great! would love to have more companies like this in Germany :-)
Ryan Carson
August 26, 2010 8:20pm

Looks amazing! :)
Anton Z
August 27, 2010 12:44am

OH MY GOD! Your office is amazing! Well done….

If I beat you in table tennis will you hire me ?
Mathew Patterson
August 27, 2010 1:27am

@Anton Ha! Personally the last thing I need is someone else to beat me in the rankings ;)
Mikhail St-Denis
August 27, 2010 2:32am

Rocking pad ladies and gents.
Jealous! :)
Anton Z
August 27, 2010 4:50am

@Mathew Patterson hehe nice one - I play with Mark V too.

As others mentioned, would love to see a more technical video on how you work and what tools you use at your office etc.
JohnONolan
August 27, 2010 12:44pm

Absolutely amazing, massively impressed!
Steve F
August 27, 2010 2:10pm

Absolutely adore this office (as well as the beautifully shot video), just the kind of design I love!

More pics please! :)
Brian Klepper
August 27, 2010 6:48pm

Thank you so much for posting this! Campaign Monitor has truly inspired me to want more from life and my current undertaking. This shows that there are business out there that inspire to bolster it’s employees with the proper workspace and creative environments. This is truly amazing :)
Marco Sousa
August 28, 2010 10:41am

Brilliantly divided spaces, great environment and setups :)
Jim
August 28, 2010 11:06am

Obviously making too much money!
Small Business Owner
August 30, 2010 2:49am

Great office and design however, I now understand why you guys don’t want to charge a fixed monthly rate fee - like Mailchimp does. Obviously the absurd $5 flat campaign fee you guys charge is paying off. I don’t understand why a company would blatantly advertise such an extravagant expense on its website and seriously ignore a review of its fees (which seems to have been a big talking point on your blog over the last 18 months) to attract small businesses or entice better returns for current customers. As a business owner wouldn’t you be a bit more selective on what to brag or not brag to clients?
Mathew Patterson
August 30, 2010 10:10am

@everyone in general: On behalf of the Sydney staff at Campaign Monitor, thanks! We really appreciate what we’ve been provided with here, it’s a great office to work in.

@Small Business Owner - Thanks for your feedback too. Keep in mind we don’t have any contract fees or setup costs, so nobody is being forced to pay for something they don’t find valuable.

There are cases where our pricing model won’t be the best fit, and there are also plenty of cases where people find it excellent and actually save a bunch of money.

That’s not to say there will never be any changes or other pricing options, but no matter what model a business chooses, it won’t suit everyone all the time.

As for us ‘blatantly advertising an extravagant expense’:
As someone working in the Sydney office and has worked in a lot of other places, I can tell you that being in such a great environment does affect me. It makes it easier to do my job, and it is a sign to me that what I do for Campaign Monitor is recognised.

This post is about letting other people know about the place that Campaign Monitor is made, and also an advertisement for us to future employees. Hiring the best team members is easier when you have the best office for them to work in.

We’re looking for a designer at the moment, and we’ve got an awesome office for the right person. Maybe they’ll read this post and contact us.
Brendan Kilfoil
August 30, 2010 10:32pm

A true inspiration - nice work guys :)
Bardia Housman
August 31, 2010 5:39pm

David, very sexy offices. Well done and congrats to you and the team!

Cheers,
Bardia (@bhousman)
Johnny Dinh
August 31, 2010 6:28pm

Very nice office! I’m always interested in looking at how people or companies organize and plan their office or work place. Thank you for sharing.
Jason McFadden
August 31, 2010 6:35pm

what music is playing in the background.. really dig it… congrats on the new office too
Brian
August 31, 2010 6:47pm

Such a nice space! Thanks for sharing.

After being in an open cubicle for 5 years and finally moving into an office this year, I totally agree with your thoughts on concentration. I can’t solve problems efficiently when constant interruptions are around and I was always feeling stressed in a cubicle environment.
Amanda L. Sage
August 31, 2010 6:55pm

I want to come work for Campaign Monitor!!!
Philippe Creux
August 31, 2010 7:05pm

Very nice! We are checking out coffee machines for our company right now. Just wondering what you got? :)
Chelsea Cankar
August 31, 2010 7:10pm

That office is amazing and good choice in song (I see you are having a listening issues, I have contacts with tons of bands that can replace the song instead of Phoenix). I love how relaxed it is, I really think that makes for a more effective work environment. What firm designed it? I enjoy getting your newsletters in my inbox by the way, they are very informative. You all do need some more females in the office though? When should I start?
Chris Schultz
August 31, 2010 7:29pm

This is super cool to see! No wonder your company has the online reputation that it does. It’s real!
Amanda
August 31, 2010 9:10pm

Love the video. I wish I was brainy enough to work with your crew.
Jacques
August 31, 2010 9:11pm

Wow! When I make it big selling CM to my clients, I’m making a special trip from Canada to your Aussie office. You guys inspire me.
Samuel Lavoie
August 31, 2010 9:15pm

Nice video stop on the Rework book from the guys @37Signals! congrats on the new offices, it should be a dream to work there :)
Robin
August 31, 2010 10:10pm

Inspiring!
sharon
August 31, 2010 10:52pm

What you have made is the PERFECT setup for knowledge workers. Open plan for small teams is great when working close together on project. As you mentioned it gets noisier and distracting when things get larger. When you have people working on different projects with different job functions. Design next to sales anyone?

Too much energy is wasted blocking out the noise.

Well done on the progressive approach; the payoff will be great, I’m sure.
Diego
August 31, 2010 11:00pm

Interesting, we have been pushing for an open concept of our small studio. We are 5 at the moment, but I can see how in the future as our team grows we may need to implement something similar, on tighter budget though.
Amazing and inspiring guys - Great to see where the awesome MailBuild App comes from.
Donna Vitan
August 31, 2010 11:45pm

It’s pretty simple and functional, well done! I love the private office and the full glass windows so it still feels open.
Rhonda Mason
September 1, 2010 1:16am

So inspiring!
Travis White
September 1, 2010 2:49am

Wow, what an amazing office space! Looks like a great place to work!
Kain Tietzel
September 1, 2010 3:13am

You’ve created an incredible work environment that quite clearly fosters participation and creativity. I wish all organisations thought as much about the work environment as you guys do, then who knows what amazing things people might produce!
Harish Sharma
September 1, 2010 5:12am

Awesome…. What an office.
Federico
September 1, 2010 9:21am

Wow! I love Ping Pong!
Shannon
September 1, 2010 11:20am

I’m jealous. and I hate you all. much love :)
Jop Berkhout
September 1, 2010 1:29pm

Beautiful guys. It get’s us inspired for our next office. And boy, do I agree with private offices!
Gavin
September 1, 2010 1:31pm

Congratulations.. the offices look fantastic. Its a great mix of personal space for focusing on work and a play area for relaxing and brainstorming. We do most of our creative thinking and team work over lunch its such an important part of the day… We unfortunately had to put our ping pong table in storage until we find bigger offices!

What is the tech setup for the office like? It would be interesting to see the architecture of of the computers and networking/storage
Sergei Filippov
September 1, 2010 11:01pm

Sure seems like a fantastic work atmosphere. =]. Great post!
Telkom
September 1, 2010 11:38pm

All it needs is bunk beds, cos I sure as hell wouldn’t wanna leave! That’s right up there with the Red Bull and Google spaces.. awesome.
Matt
September 2, 2010 3:24pm

I’m just wondering how big each office is square footage wise, they look huge! Nice job!
Matthew Wehrly
September 2, 2010 4:25pm

Great set up guys! Love the office and the environment you have created with your employees. Thanks for sharing.
Alexis
September 2, 2010 7:21pm

wow….
Lucy
September 3, 2010 11:06am

omg I would kill for a private office…
I am the only graphic designer in a marketing company, working in an open plan office, and the insignificant constant chit-chat does my head in!
I want to work here!
Ben
September 3, 2010 4:26pm

I’m jealous. My job sucks and so does the work environment.
Sue Wickes
September 3, 2010 7:03pm

I love it. One thing I noticed when watching the video is that there is not a single female in this video. Why is that? Is it by accident that you only have men on your team? Just curious.
F Young
September 3, 2010 8:38pm

You amy have balance in the work space, not so in the work force - do you have something against women?
Mathew Patterson
September 3, 2010 11:18pm

There is actually women in the video, just not for long! We have 6 women on our team (several are remote team members).

If you are the best applicant for any role, you’ll be on our team, man, woman or super intelligent extra terrestrial.
LYKC
September 3, 2010 11:18pm

Very very cool! Interesting setup with the private offices and valid rationale for your choices. I find open plan to be quite distracting sometimes depending on if the loud colleague is in, so can definitely see the benefits!

Love the ping pong tables too. My old workplace had a Wii and sky sports. Great to boost team spirit and add an extra edge to the day! Nice one, hopefully more companies will follow suit!
Annie L
September 4, 2010 2:29am

Love your new space and reading about the thought process behind it, the only thing i think you’re missing are plants to bring some of the green from outside in and make it even friendlier. :)
Ros Hodgekiss
September 4, 2010 2:36am

Hi Annie L! We’ve actually got a planter box here and a couple of thriving plants. Don’t tell Dave or Ben, but I’m planning to purchase some shrubbery for my window sill… Hopefully mine will be the friendliest office of them all :)

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