A development pow wow in the conference room. Note how Sam doesn’t need his computer. He programs in his brain.
Headphone time for Jason and Ryan.
The view from outside. (This photo by DjD.)
You can see the entire office in the Coudal film Copy Goes Here.
nate
on 15 Mar 07jason, is that a pimp cup on your desk?
Walker Hamilton
on 15 Mar 07And….some of us were lucky enough to attend one of the first “building of basecamp” seminars….which were….at one time…...unbelievable as it is…..smalll enough to it in the coudal office.
(And everyone attending got a 5inch cd on their chair.)
Eric Tapley
on 15 Mar 07This is great, guys, thanks for sharing it with us.
What sort of artwork do you keep on your walls? I think art and music are great sources of inspiration, and am curious about what you’ve selected. I realize art is shared and publicly reflects your shared aesthetic while musical tastes are sure to vary. :)
Rene
on 15 Mar 07Thanks for the photos.
JF
on 15 Mar 07Nate, yes, it’s a 37signals pimp cup (sent to us anonymously last year).
Ryan Bergeman
on 15 Mar 07I just got my copy of Copy Goes Here yesterday, and that was one of the reasons I bought it (you guys are hilarious as the “sandwich shop”). XD Nice office, and thanks for the photos. =)
Karl N
on 15 Mar 07Nice monitor.
Though I’m used to having 2 smaller ones
heri
on 15 Mar 07I am wondering what do you use the TV for, in the meeting room? are you guys doing multimedia work for clients? or is it for watching movies/video games?
JF
on 15 Mar 07Heri, we share a space with Coudal Partners. They do a lot of video and commercial TV work so the TV is for them. The space is actually their space—we just sublet a little corner.
Tim
on 15 Mar 07Jason
In the first photo, would you mind pointing out who’s who. From the faces I know, I don’t see you, Ryan or DHH in the photo.
Chris Fierer
on 15 Mar 07Great office space guys and thanks for sharing.
Side-Note: Did Sam go to Virginia Tech? I think I had a couple CS classes with him. If so, glad to know there is a Hokie at 37s.
Josh Walsh
on 15 Mar 07I just ordered my copy of Copy Goes Here. Looks interesting.
JF
on 15 Mar 07Tim:
Starting with Sam (the guy with the ski cap on) and going clockwise… DHH (programmer), Mark (our sys admin), Jamis (programmer), and Jeremy (programmer).
Dr. Pete
on 15 Mar 07Hey, you guys are virtually my neighbors. I live/work off Kinzie on the river.
I find it strangely comforting when creative people have relatively normal looking offices. Thank god we all got past the dot-com craziness and got back to work.
Justin Reese
on 15 Mar 07Is David so dedicated to trimming features that he had his legs removed?
Mark
on 15 Mar 07How cluttered is that desk :D
Mike
on 15 Mar 07Does that conference table show fingerprints?
Tony
on 15 Mar 07Boy, if I didn’t know any better, I’d have to say that first shot is of a meeting. ;)
ML
on 15 Mar 07Tony, you got us. ; ) On the other hand, this was the first time the entire current 37signals team was in the same place at the same time so a meeting seemed justified.
Jeff Croft
on 15 Mar 07Good-looking place. I love seeing this sort of thing—seems like you can always tell a lot about who people are and how they work by seeing how they set up their office. Thanks for sharing. :)
John Topley
on 15 Mar 07Why’s Jason got a Terminal window open? He’s not a developer! ;-)
DjD
on 15 Mar 07Thanks for sharing fellas and glad you liked the pic!
Jeff Berg
on 15 Mar 07So it looks like you all have macbook pros that you dock to a keyboard mouse and nice display when you are at work. Is that true or I am I not seeing a MacPro beneath your desk?
JF
on 15 Mar 07Jeff, we all use MacBook Pros, yes.
Douglas F Shearer
on 15 Mar 07Is that a 30” display Jason is using there? Obscenely big!
Nice to see where you guys work, looks a little sparse, could do with some stuff on the walls!
Marvin
on 15 Mar 07A great place to work! Just a curiosity: is there any commercial agreement between your studio and Apple? You were profiled on the Apple website and Ruby on Rails was one of the factors which led to the spread of the current Mac epidemic among programmers. Do you really pay for your Apple hardware/software nowdays?
David
on 15 Mar 07Looks great guys.
I see you all have Apple Cinema Displays worth the extra cash?
We run an all Apple office MacBooks, MacBook Pros & i-macs
What do you reckon to a 42” HD LCD for group work or would you go with the 30” Apple Cinema?
P.S. – I am looking forward to the day when my golden ticket arrives. Do you accept bribes?
Rick
on 15 Mar 07Seems to be a pretty comfortable and productive meeting place.
What´s hanging on the walls?
JF
on 15 Mar 07is there any commercial agreement between your studio and Apple?
Nope, we just love their products. We pay for all the hardware and software.
I can’t say enough good things about the 30” cinema. It’s wonderful.
brad
on 15 Mar 07Nice pix and great work environment, but the ergonomist in me has to wince at using a keyboard and mouse up on a desk like that…you really should think about installing keyboard trays! To avoid repetitive strain injuries you should try to keep your wrists lower than your elbows while you’re typing and using the mouse; it’s a more neutral position—not just for your wrists but for your shoulders, which are at the root of some of the more serious and common RSIs like thoracic outlet syndrome (which I have…I can’t use a right-handed mouse for more than 5 minutes without my right hand going white and numb.)
BradM
on 15 Mar 07I have to compliment JF for his ability to keep his desktop so darn clean! Especially on a Mac. When I switched, I found that OSX likes ‘putting’ things on the desktop. Which is okay, however, you have to have the discipline to keep it tidy. Also, I love how you have your laptop under the 30”. Looks as though it belonged there.
Yong
on 15 Mar 07Waaaaiiit… I thought you guys said there were tons of hot women working at 37s. It’s all DUDES!
Douglas F Shearer
on 15 Mar 07Thanks for the reply Jason.
Think I’ll plump for a 23”, all the MB can handle.
More of your offices can be seen here: http://www.apple.com/education/whymac/compsci/video.html
Drew
on 15 Mar 07Need a bluetooth keyboard an mouse to clean up those desktop areas.
Observer of a boy band
on 15 Mar 07Not only are they all men, they’re all 20 and 30-something white men. Looks like 37s is the web equivalent of a boy band. You should get a woman on staff to balance out some of that testosterone, and maybe a non-US person to add some culture.
Jeremy J
on 15 Mar 07Brad – RSI is for typists. Programmers and Designers spend most of their time thinking about what they’re about to do, and therefore spend little time typing in the same way – there’s a lot more shifting of posture involved.
The 30” HD monitors are great – it’s the first time you can fit a complex compile line in a terminal at a sensible font size without line-wrapping! However, moving the mouse cursor to the other side, and finding it again when returning to the machine, are tasks of epic proportions.
Mauricio
on 15 Mar 07How do you guys keep your MacBooks closed when they are docked? If it’s a hack, does it not generate a lot of heat?
Cool office!
Mimo
on 15 Mar 07Photos are magic. It is good that you use them in Highrise. Don’t you think about using them in BC?
Arlo
on 15 Mar 07MI
on 15 Mar 07Mauricio – The MacBook and MacBook Pro support running in closed lid mode if the power adapter is connected, a keyboard and mouse is connected, and a monitor is connected. Apple’s knowledge base discusses this in articles 86286 and 300562.
Ken B.
on 15 Mar 07Mimo, I keep my macbook plugged in similar to those shown in the photos. When I have power, the external monitor, and the keyboard/mouse (USB), the laptop wakes from sleep and just seems to work. Occasionally I’ll hear the fan kick on when the processor is maxed out but other than it seldom gets very hot.
DHH
on 15 Mar 07Boy band-fan, I’m actually from Denmark. And we’re working with a female contractor at the moment. But all our hires are on merit, not country of origin or gender.
Mauricio
on 15 Mar 07This is a great tip, thanks a lot! :) I always left it slightly open, careful not to close it too much and put it to sleep.
Jeff
on 15 Mar 07Sweet, there is office space for lease in the same building!
JF
on 15 Mar 07Don’t you think about using them in BC?
Basecamp does have pictures of people on the People tab and in the comments on a message.
brad
on 15 Mar 07@ Jeremy: No, RSI isn’t just for typists; in fact programmers and designers are the two largest groups of RSI sufferers according to statistics I’ve seen (I think it was in a book or paper by Emil Pascarelli; the stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics aren’t fine-grain enough unfortunately). Designers are especially vulnerable because of heavy mouse use.
SS
on 15 Mar 07Hey Chris – I did attend VT from fall 2002 through spring 2004.
Andreas
on 15 Mar 07If it was like that outside my office, I’d be happy to sit inside all day and code :) But it’s a beautiful sunny day :(
Andy Kant
on 15 Mar 07Anyone know of any fixes post-10.4.8 for running the MacBook Pro closed lid without having a keyboard/mouse connected?
Currently I have the keyboard/mouse connected most of the time, but its so annoying that every time I switch my KVM to my Windows machine that the MBP goes to sleep.
Regarding the flat-screens…Dell flat-screens > Apple cinema displays imo. They use the same LCD, and although the Apple display has slightly better picture, the Dell’s are much cheaper and have more features. My Dell LCD has a memory card reader and USB ports on the side (invaluable) along with a ton of inputs (VGA, DVI, Composite, S-Video, Component), plus I can rotate the screen without it overheating. I think they have gotten closer in both price and features in the last year or so though so I don’t know if thats relevant anymore.
That reminds me, I really wish the MacBook Pro had a built-in SD reader like my old laptop, every computer should have that built-in. My friggin’ TV even has one built-in.
Nathan Jones
on 16 Mar 07Thanks for the virtual tour. It’s interesting to see that – despite your support for telecommuting – you still see value in doing some work together in the one space.
Arik Jones
on 16 Mar 07Man, this was a nice change up. I love it when a company can pull back the curtains give folks a taste.
Post Videos
on 16 Mar 07Very nice office i want one like that with a very good team like yours. Best Regards John W.
Mersmann
on 16 Mar 07So bizarre, after reading this entry this morning, I went to a showing with our potential florists who happen to be on the second floor of that same building, it was very odd. (The feeling, not the showing, that was wonderful)
Stan
on 16 Mar 07I work in the same area in Chicago. Very beautiful in a tattered beautiful sort of way. I blog posted about the area here. I am still waiting for 37signals to order our catering, but to no avail, they don’t have meetings. :) I wish we were the same.
Chris Fierer
on 16 Mar 07Thanks for the confirmation Sam. I knew I had seen you and talked to you at some point, probably in one of McQuain’s classes.
Justin
on 16 Mar 07I biked past your building on Sunday. Nice area to work in, slower than the Loop and still quieter than River North. Were you or Coudal there first?
Yannic Walter
on 16 Mar 07Great office. Are these desks “Vika Amon” desks from Ikea? And which mouse/keyboard combo are you using?
Coudal
on 16 Mar 07No offense Greg, but we’re married to our choice for caterering in the neighborhood.
AW
on 16 Mar 07So – the important questions…RS & JS…whats bumpin in the headphones?
Mrad
on 16 Mar 07Yanni. I bet they’re bumpin’ to Yanni. And John Tesh. Oh, maybe some Micheal Bolton…
Sweet digs guys.
Anindya
on 17 Mar 07Guys, we have never seem ML with rest of 37s crew. Why? Does he ever come over to the office? How frequent does he meet with others?
Brian Sexton
on 17 Mar 07I program in my brain too. You might be surprised how often I come up with both solutions and new ideas away from my computers. I have come up with bug-fixes standing at urinals.
Elliot Yates
on 17 Mar 07Hey guys,
Thanks for the pictures, looks like a great office. I love the way you all use Macs (as they are truly the best). Also, am I right in thinking that you all own a MacBook (or Pro) and use that for the meetings, though you then attach a keyboard, mouse, monitor and powerlead and run it as a desktop?
Thanks,
Elliot
DHH
on 17 Mar 07Anindya, ML lives in NY. So that’s why he’s naturally not around the office a lot. For these particular shots, though, he was SUPPOSED to be around, but got stranded in JFK :/
Anindya
on 17 Mar 07DHH, we have seen many photos in Flickr but seen ML with any of you…
Anindya
on 17 Mar 07DHH , we have seen many photos in Flickr but NEVER seen ML with any of you…
Michael Vu
on 18 Mar 07you guys must put in a bunch of hours every day on the computer. what about the ergonomics?
=P don’t take for granted your back and wrists.
cheers. thanks for the inside look at 37signals.
Sinan Ata
on 18 Mar 07I like the table so much :) I’ll have one for my office :p Hey! is there anyone can see DHH’s feet? they’re lost :p
By the way I’m thinking about making a series of Interviews with the people who forges the web :) and I need some people from 37signals too.
I’ll translate the interviews in Turkish and publish them in Turkish and English. For improving the Web Experience.
Let me know if you’re interested guyz.
ML
on 19 Mar 07Anindya, I’m the one who took the first two photos (during a recent trip to HQ). I usually get out to Chicago once every few months. Here’s a pic of the entire crew at a nearby restaurant.
Leon
on 19 Mar 07Wow~ you guys really love Mac. :)
Nathan
on 19 Mar 07Good to see a fellow hokie as well. Love the space, good job Coudal.
Elliot Yates
on 19 Mar 07Hey guys,
It just occured to me, do you use any type of server to keep you all in sync or do you just each have a computer?
Thanks,
Elliot
Anindya
on 20 Mar 07Thanks a lot Matt!
Mathew
on 20 Mar 07show us some more photos of your daily office life… would love to see.. really!
Kester
on 20 Mar 07Yannic, the keyboard is a Macally Icekey – I went and hunted it down after seeing these shots and the short video on Apple about 37s. Mine arrived this morning and it’s dreamy to use.
Yannic Walter
on 20 Mar 07Yes I found them meanwhile ;) Are you satisfied with it? Worth the €55 ?
Kester
on 20 Mar 07Yes, very happy so far, but it has only had a day of use. It has a really solid feel which was a nice surprise. Easily worth €55, I wish I could have gone mine that cheap!
Easily the best keyboard I’ve typed on.
Kester
on 20 Mar 07Yes, very happy so far, but it has only had a day of use. It has a really solid feel which was a nice surprise. Easily worth €55, I wish I could have gone mine that cheap!
Easily the best keyboard I’ve typed on.
This discussion is closed.