“We found out we got a whole lot less done when we’re sitting next to each other the whole time.” -Jason Fried, 37 Signals
That quote comes from a short interview Jason Fried did with Crain’s Chicago Business. That point of view collides with those like me who promote co-located teams as a way to increase productivity. Co-located teams are often a core value of agile software development. But, want to know a little secret? I think there’s a lot of truth in what Jason says.
I think co-located too often translates to distractions galore. Software developers need to get into “the flow”. When they’re in the flow, developers are at their most productive. Everything starts to click and the results are often astonishing. You can’t get into the flow when you’re dealing with distractions and interruptions. Interruptions don’t have to be direct, like a team member asking you a spontaneous question, they can be the result of an open space environment where every conversation is overheard and tempts you to join in.
There are times when being co-located pays off in some big ways. For instance, when you have multiple developers working on solving a problem together or when someone overhears a conversation, jumps in and a seemingly difficult problem suddenly becomes easy to solve thanks to the contributions from someone not originally involved. However, I often wonder if these instances are the exceptions rather than the rules.
Maybe the balance is to be in the same vicinity but not co-located in an open space where distractions are so plentiful? Co-locating can be reserved for those times when it’s needed by always having available open meeting spaces for such occasions. Possibly utilizing IM and chat rooms for a less obtrusive form of collaborating while not co-located. When people feel that it’s important to meet together, then they easily can. Co-location in this setup becomes the exception rather than the rule. Is it possible to get the best of both worlds?