Whiteboard-space to wall-space (WBS/WS) ratio

Patrick Wilson Welsh has a great little rant on this really incomprehensible trend. I think the root of the problem is that too many companies still think of software development as an industrial, assembly line process and too few have really embraced the idea that it’s a creative effort. That might be why it’s called “software development,” after all we are developing things here.

Anyhow, as Patrick rants on:

I have been seeing lots and lots of team rooms… in which software development work gets done. And there are acres of wall space around. And there are tons of ideas that must be worked through collaboratively. Brainstorming that must happen, and design and architecture, and project tracking, and planning, and learning and mentoring, and training, and you name it.

Yet, there is this incredible dearth of whiteboard space. As if whiteboards were made of platinum. My favorite example of this is the very large conference room with a 20′ table that seats 24, and at the end of it, a tiny, 4′x4′ whiteboard, folded away in a little closet of its own (as if to say, “Only to be used in dire imaginative emergencies!”). Oh, and best of all, those little round whiteboard erasers maybe 3″ in diameter. They don’t so much erase as they smear.

Software development is a creative process and it needs a creative, spontaneous environment. I shudder at work environments filled with quiet little armies locked in cubicles. It’s the worst possible arrangement. I also don’t like to see the “one huge room” approach, as it creates too much noise and distraction—it’s a poorly thought out solution to a problem that management hasn’t really taken the time to understand. Creativity is attained through a careful balance of focus, freedom, collaboration and concentration.

Foster a creative environment that is team-oriented. That is, locate your teams in working groups so that they can share ideas. Put up a lot of white boards, make sure everyone has plenty of dry erase markers, and a hefty supply of those immense wall post-its (you know, the tablet sized sheets of paper that you can tear off, stick on a wall and write all over).

The last thing you want is for your brilliant, creative team to be stifled because they had to hunt for a meeting room, find some markers, clear off an old diagram and… have totally forgotten the great idea they were going to start an animated discussion over. Creativity is spontaneous. Make sure your work environment supports the process!