The tech start-ups of Silicon Valley has produced a number of innovations in office layout concepts, but none are quite as valuable to smaller businesses as the ‘Hackathon Space’.
The ‘Hackathon’ is the evolution of the romanticized ‘four guys working out of a garage’ structure that spawned the first two tech behemoths, Apple and Microsoft. A ‘Hackathon space’ is a place where a small core group of workers can work in tandem for extended periods, putting in the extra hours required to get a product or company off the ground.
Through careful planning and careful consideration before calling your Toronto furniture installation service, you can create a Hackathon space that greatly improves the efficiency of the workspace while increasing the longevity of your work sessions.
Not all start-ups can afford a full conference suite. To ensure that meetings between your’ power teams’ don’t disrupt workflow, it’s important to have a ‘mini conference table’ that has comfortable seating, sufficient table space, and enough soundproofing and/or geographical isolation to make sure that the conference doesn’t disturb the workers, or that workers taking a break don’t disrupt the conference.
When working closely with a large team, it can be a major advantage to keep your workers together. Not only does it make it easier to collaborate, but it also provides an additional psychological morale boost to be literally working side-by-side (particularly when working extended hours). Furthermore, it allows everyone to work off the same task list, allowing each to be inspired by the progress of others.
However, since not all tasks are suited to an ‘open concept’, having a multi-purpose desk that features both open-concept workstations and ‘isolation units’ that boast privacy screens will allow workers who are more prone to distraction or are performing tasks that require intense focus to block out their distractions without abandoning the team.
In this digital age of business, it’s not uncommon to have key members who do not live within your area. To include such remote workers in your Hackathon sessions, you may want to design a mini conference table (similar to a Break-Out Space) that is designed for the whole team to ‘gather around’ a large teleconferencing screen.
Comfortable couches in a half-horseshoe layout works best, with small side tables or an occasional in the middle. This grants your staff a much more comfortable space to gather around the conference screen as opposed to more ‘rectangular’ conference room layout where your staff will need to lean in to fully see the screen.
While even minimal spaces cost, it’s important to realize that the fabled Microsoft garage is a hindrance in the origin story. Garages simply aren’t designed for offices; they’re designed for cars. They tend to be poorly insulated, making them boiling hot in the summers and freezing in the winter. They aren’t soundproofed, and perhaps most importantly, they don’t have the legitimacy of a proper space.
A small ‘hackathon’ space, however greatly increases morale, letting your workers and co-founders know that you are serious about this business venture. It features greater comfort, greater control over distractions, much more specialized facilities, and, ultimately, it is far more impressive to any prospective customers, clients, or investors who may be interested in seeing your company.
Once your “Hackathon Space” is designed, make sure that it’s properly installed and assembled. Whether you’re moving into your first space or shifting to a larger building as you grow, we’re here to see that your moves are smooth and un-intrusive. Contact us to book an appointment today.