How comfy is your cubicle? Actually do you even have a cubicle? Is it decorated well enough?

Being a consultant, I have a chance to work at different corporate cites. Some companies use open space setup where everyone can see each other, which is just horrible. In some cases you see cubes with tall walls when the entire floor looks like a deserted maze. Joel Spolsky keep stating that every programmer has to have a private office. This is great idea, but the chances are close to zero that you, a programmer will have your own office. My working space during the last six months consists of two square feet area on the conference room table covered with cables, wires and power cords. Am I complaining? Not at all. I am a consultant, which means that I need to help the client with solving THEIR problems, not mine.

An absence of working space stops me from bringing any personal belonging to work. I come with my laptop, connect to the network, put on my headphones and start working. When I leave, no cleanup is required. As if I never even was there.

I ‘ve seen another extreme on corporate floors: overly decorated cubes: tons of photos, books, about a dozen of different plants, sport memorabilia, and mugs with logos of all previous employers… When I see something like this, it seems that peope think that they will live there forever. Imagine if they get fired – they ‘ll need to bring a moving truck to take all these items home. I used the word fired on purpose – these people are not planning to leave the firm voluntarily. Ever.

Barnes and Noble offers help for people who like decorating their cells. It ‘s called Cube Chic . Now you can have the Garden Cube, the Cabin Cube or even the CEO Cube. I guess, your self esteem will go up if you ‘ll turn your cube into a CEO-like office.

No, this is not for me. Let me push aside all these wires and power cords away, so my laptop and elbows will fit.