Dream office for a small team of social game developers

I decided to put together a small team of people who like to develop social applications in order to conquer the galaxy together. And the question arose: how to provide team members with such conditions for work that it was pleasant and convenient to work?

Since before we start capturing space frigates and small colonial planets, the budgets will not be very large, we have to think about how to make the start-up capital last for a longer time, but not at the expense of the team member. Therefore, the option to simply rent a chic office in some mega-cool business center of class A + 100500 is not rational in this situation. But boxes in class C, D buildings (various former research institutes, etc., with the Soviet level of service) are also not suitable - you cannot force people to work in such conditions.

And the question arose: do we need an office at all?
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Immediately it should be noted that I consider the office not as a place where every person is obliged to come, but as a place - where he can come to work, if he wants and where he will be pleased and comfortable.

Entry conditions: a team of 3-7 people. Moscow. It would be nice to meet the rent in 45 tons. P. / month It is clear that for such money, elegant mansions with a view to something fascinating can not be removed.

First you need to understand why an office is needed at all, and for that you need to decide what they will do in it. In my understanding, the ideal workflow looks like this:

1. ideas;
2. Brainstorm;
3. draft on a napkin;
4. accelerated development of a prototype by the whole team;
5. crystallization of the prototype;
6. iterative development and refinement of the application.

As you can see, from 1 to 5 points a very hard work is going on, which requires a quick reaction and tight interaction from the whole team. At this stage, it would be nice if the majority of participants interact live - because due to this, the loss of efficiency between links is greatly reduced. After the application crystallized, the measured and predictable work on its development and improvement begins. There is no need to all sit together, and everyone can work where and how he likes.

That is, the office is really needed only for the period when there is an active study of the new application. And the rest of the time, he can stand idle, as it is mandatory to force people to come to the office and at the same time it is pointless to spend 2-3 hours a day to hustle in transport or traffic jams - stupid and cruel.

If the office needs only a fraction of the time, then as an option, you can opt out of it altogether, and with the money saved from renting it you can collect each week in Starbucks, karting, beer, etc., for brainstorms.

Everything would be great if it were not for one “but” - not everyone is comfortable working at home. And if there are young children or relatives at home, then without a private office, this task is only possible for masters of concentration and self-organization.

Therefore, it turns out that the office is still needed. Now you need to estimate how much it will cost.

Personally, I have such requirements for the workplace:

1. Not far from the subway, so that you can easily walk;
2. Access to exit and exit 24 hours a day, including weekends and holidays;
3. Enough personal space in order not to beat elbows against each other;
4. A comfortable table (at least 1.2 m wide) and a chair (so that the back does not hurt);
5. The possibility of cheap and tasty food nearby;
6. Unlimited high speed internet;
7. Comfortable temperature regime - in the summer should not be too hot, and in the winter - too cold;
8. A decent bathroom - so that you can brush your teeth, staying at work for the night, and take a shower, arriving at work on a bicycle;
9. Relaxation area with a sofa, a floor lamp, a cup of tea and a shelf with books. If there is a game console with a large telly - generally box-a-arno. Recreation area is necessary to get out of the stupor, which sometimes comes. Otherwise, you can get stuck in it until the end of the day.

A small search for Cyan gives that more or less decent room for 45 000 p. can be found. But they are all in a dull state. Therefore, you can calculate how much it will cost to build the whole thing.

Let's run through Ikea and calculate the cost of arranging a single workplace:

1. Table: www.ikea.com/ru/ru/catalog/products/90209731#/60117016 + www.ikea.com/ru/ru/catalog/products/50105293 × 4 = 2 000 r.
2. Armchair: www.ikea.com/ru/ru/catalog/products/30163892#/10163888 = 4 000 p.
3. Light: www.ikea.com/ru/ru/catalog/products/60370183 = 300 p.
4. The pilot with a bunch of outlets: 1 000 p.
5. Shelf: www.ikea.com/ru/ru/catalog/products/60103632 = 600 p.

Total for an acceptable minimum is 8,000 + 3,000 for trivia = 11,000 for the workplace. For 3 people - 33 000 p.

1. For common areas:
2. Sofa www.ikea.com/ru/ru/catalog/products/S59892956#/S49885409 = 14 000 r.
3. Telly + xBox ≈ 30 000 r.
4. For all sorts of decorations, printers, etc. ≈ 50 000 p.

Total, the minimum set for comfortable work turns out 130 - 150 t. R. I do not include computers in the calculation, since they are an asset, not a passive.

If we depreciate for the year of the team’s work, then we get 150,000 / 12 = 12,500 per month.

Also, you still need to forget about food. This is at least 500 p. per person per day multiplied by 20 days, i.e. 500 × 3 × 20 = 30 000 r.

The total cost of an office for a small team is:

1. 45 000 r. - rent;
2. 10 000 r. - Internet (for lawyers it is expensive, infection);
3. 2 000 r. - utility fees for the office.
4. 12 000 r. - amortization of the situation;
5. 30 000 r. - food in the office.

The result: 99 000 p. per month. And the question of its necessity again becomes ambiguous. After all, for the same money, for example, once in three days, the whole team can go karting, drive, drink beer, brainstorm, etc. And it is not known which approach will allow people to work more productively and harmoniously.

But this is how I see the situation. It is very interesting to hear the opinion of the habravchan on this issue. Since you want to make a really pleasant and comfortable atmosphere in which you can work with pleasure and be engaged in solving interesting problems, as the tasks will be exciting and you don’t want to let the unorganized life distract from them.