An office move in the near future
Friday, May 6th, 2005 at 08:52pm
For some time now there has been a space issue at work as more staff join the team while the office space has not increased appropriately. We have taken over some other offices but it simply hasn’t been enough. A couple of months ago it was raised that there was a possibility of us moving across to some vacated space in a building just off campus (but owned by Monash) but it had already been promised to another group. Our offices are in the basement (really a semi basement with big windows in most of the offices) of one of the administration buildings and yesterday we received word that someone upstairs urgently needed space for some finance group and our current space would be suitable.
This morning this was confirmed and in around three weeks we will be moving and then again around four months later. This double move is because the new group urgently needs our space so we will move into the front half of the new space and then move into the rear half once it has been refurbished. Then once the front half has been refurbished another group that is also in the basement of the administration building will move across.
While moving will give us a lot more space there is the downside of no longer being a short walk from all the food outlets, banks and the post office that are located in the Campus Centre. Apart from one cafe around the corner anything like that will now require a, albeit short, drive. This does has the advantage of making it more difficult to waste money…
Apart from actual work this was pretty much all that was talked about and the biggest topic was in regard to transport and how it will affect people in different ways:
- For myself it is a very good thing as instead of turning off Blackburn Road and riding around and through the campus I simply continue along for another 20 metres and I an there.
- For those who drive to work it is good for some as their trip is shorter and not as good for others as their trip is slightly longer. The benefit to all drivers is that no permit is required for parking and also no students to content with.
- Those who catch public transport from the other side of the city who already require a Zone 1/2 ticket (there is only one of these people) will simply catch a Glen Waverley line train instead of a Packenham or Cranbourne line train, get off at Syndal instead of Huntingdale, and catch the 703 bus which has a stop almost in front of the building instead of catching the 630 bus to Monash.
- There is a bigger impact on those who catch public transport and live in the city. The Clayton campus of Monash Uni is pretty much in the middle of Zone 2 but there is one bus that allows the use of a Zone 1 ticket all the way in and also one bus that allows the use of a Zone 3 ticket all the way in. However to avoid the twenty minute walk to the new location these people will be required to buy a Zone 1/2 ticket which is (for a monthly ticket) an extra $50 per month.
- The biggest impact will be on those who catch public transport to work and live along the Packenham/Cranbourne line as they need to catch an additional bus at the end of their journey or an additional train/tram/bus at the start of their journey in order to get to the Glen Waverley line.
The other topic that came up was what people actually require facilities wise and my requirements are:
- A straight desk. I currently have a simple 2.4 metre long desk that I quite like as it has plenty of space and enables multiple people (two comfortably with a maximum of three) to work collaboratively. While corner desks seem to be popular they are bad for collaborative work such as peer programming as one or both of the people has to sit at a strange and uncomfortable angle.
- A return. At present I don’t have a return as there is a 30 centimetre wide ledge at desk height that runs along the wall under the windows that I use as a return. I also have cupboards (with shelves above) behind me at the same height that gives me even more space.
- Drawers. My current drawer pedestal with two normal drawers and a filing drawers is all I really need.
- Shelving. Somewhere to store the limited number of folders and books that I have.
- Bicycle storage. Currently I simply lean my bicycle against the cupboards behind my desk which is convenient as there is nearby power which enables me to charge the batteries for my lights without detatching them from the bicycle. There was a suggestion that there is already a bicycle area in the carpark under the new building and if so I hope it is secure and ideally it would have power so I can charge my lights.
- A cupboard for hanging clothes. As I change my clothes after riding in and before riding home I need somewhere to store them during the day. I currently have a full height cupboard behind my desk that I use for this purpose.
- A number of decent power outlets. The power outlets in the current space are limited as well as being very close the floor which means that we all have to use powerboards to both have enough outlets and to be able to plug certain items (such as the brick on the charger for my bicycle lights) in.
- Two network points. One for my desktop and one for my laptop. There is likely to be wireless access but I don’t want to have to run the VPN client when I am at my desk.
- A decent view. Currently I sit perpendicular to the windows with a decent view across the garden outside. I wouldn’t want to sit facing the window as it would be too distracting or with my back to a window.
- My back to a wall. I find it very distracting to have people walk behind me when I am trying to work. Having my back to a wall also means that I an be aware of most of what is happening in the room…
That is pretty much it for my requirements and the next thing will be to see the space first hand when we all go over there on Tuesday afternoon…
(This has to be the longest post I have made yet…)
