Entries tagged 'building'
Field Trip: Microsoft’s South Lake Union office (Day 2: The Space)
For those just joining me, let's get up to speed here: I'm on assignment this week, working from Microsoft's South Lake Union office in Seattle. I'm being all jealous because the teams here are totally hiring, but I love my job in Redmond. Yesterday I wrote about my amazing 10 minute non-520 in-city commute (!!!) and today I'm sniffing around the building to get a feel for what the space is like.
A picture is worth a thousand words, so get yourself ready for lots of 'em...
The building is on Westlake Avenue, which is the main drag of the burgeoning South Lake Union neighborhood, bordered by Eastlake and Capitol Hill (my hood!) to the east, Downtown to the South, Queen Anne to the West, and Lake Union itself to the north.
As I mentioned yesterday, the South Lake Union Streetcar goes by the front door ... but I don't think I mentioned that there's a Whole Foods three blocks away. There's also a Rain Fitness in the building, and employees get a deeply discounted membership. And about a bazillionty other shops and stuff nearby.
The building itself is brand spanking new and not that it reeeeeeally matters, but the decor makes me happy. I think aesthetics make a difference, and too many workplaces feel like morgues. Not this one! There are lots of little colorful nooks and crannies where folks can plop down a laptop and get to thinkin'.
And then there's the open floor plan. This is something that I'm seeing more often in new Microsoft spaces. Looks like the days of little windowless offices are gently coming to a close. As someone who sits in a windowless office off a windowless hallway, I'm eagerly awaiting the day when I'm back in a workspace with so much lovely light.
And then there's this lucky, who has the total cube with a view:
Yes, I took this photo in the ladies room, but I couldn't help myself! The South Lake Union building is eco-friendly, with the building getting LEED Gold certified, and Microsoft pursuing additional LEED certification for tenants improvements made to the building. The small print on this sign reads, "Please take a look at the diagram above and push the handle in the direction which best suits your needs." Needs, people. We all have them.
Anyway -- enough paparazzi action from me. I need to swing by Whole Foods on my way home...
Tomorrow: Microspotting a few of the luckies who work here!
Field Trip: Microsoft’s South Lake Union office (Day 3: The People)
It's my final day of working from Microsoft's South Lake Union office, and after drooling over the commute and familiarizing myself with the building and neighborhood, I figured it was time to ogle my coworkers who get to call 320 Westlake home base. And so I give to you five mini-Microspotting profiles, with just a few hard-hitting investigative questions. If these tales of 5 minute walking commutes and lakeside lunches make you jealous, remember the South Lake Union office totally has open jobs!
Your name: Renata van Diest
Your job: Developer for a super secret Mobile Services related project.
What are you working on? Generally I write code. Although sometimes I drink coffee, throw blunt objects at my officemates, and attempt to confuse my boss by memorizing his ringtone and then singing it at random times throughout the day.
What do you like most about working in this location? It’s in Seattle! It’s much closer to my house! I don’t have to check the WSDOT traffic site whenever I want to leave work! It’s also one of those cool “Green” buildings, which means the entire building is made from one potato.
Favorite lunch spot? I have become partial to consuming “overpriced soup” at the Great Northwest Soup Company right next door.
How’s your commute? Awesome. I don’t miss parking my car on 520.
Do you ever ride the streetcar? Sorry, I’m confused … oh, you must mean the S.L.U.T.! Yes, constantly!
Your name: Michael Connolly
Your job: Product Unit Manager
What are you working on? Mobile services, baby!
What do you like most about working in this location? Riding my bike to work.
Favorite lunch spot? Northwest Soup Company. Tomato Basil with a piece of cornbread when I need to get in and out quick.
How’s your commute? 15-20 minutes on a bike.
If you commute by bike, why do you have rollerskates under your desk? To get from my desk to the bathroom.
Do you ever ride the streetcar? Only when it’s raining sideways
Your name: Alex Cobb
Your job: Group Program Manager
What are you working on? Incubating the next generation of experiences on mobile phones
What do you like most about working in this location? Beyond my now non-existent commute (which has been life changing), it’s nice to be back in big open office spaces with city views and a quick escape to the gym or pub after work. Reminds me of working in NYC and SF.
Favorite lunch spot? Anywhere outside on Lake Union
How’s your commute? 5 minute walk, 10 if I stop for coffee on the way
Do you ever ride the streetcar? People ride the streetcar? I thought it was decorative.
Your name: Russ West
Your job: I break software for giggles’n’grins.
What are you working on? Super secrety mobile service project
What do you like most about working in this location? The massive space-needle peeking the windows and cracking its whip to keep us all working hard.
Favorite lunch spot? Anywhere in China Town, though it’s a bit of a walk
How’s your commute? Not bad, all the cars are going in to Redmond, not out!
Do you ever ride the streetcar? Now and again. I’d make a Acronym-Based Remark™ here, but…
Your name: Octavia Petrovici
Your job: Mobile Gal Superhero aka Senior Software Developer Engineer
What are you working on? The most awesome mobile service in the world
What do you like most about working in this location? Besides my colleagues? I really enjoy the open space and how that encourages collaboration. Oh yeah, and my commute. Did I mention the commute?
Favorite lunch spot? Lake Union Park, on the docks right by the water.
How’s your commute? Delicious! Only 15 minutes walk in high heels!Field Trip: Microsoft's South Lake Union office (Day 1: The Commute)
So, I'm doing something a little different this week. Normally I keep Microspotting focused on the sexy geeks of Microsoft, but this week I'm obsessing over Microsoft's South Lake Union office -- the new, totally non-Redmond, totally Seattle home of a growing development team. I'm going to work here for the week, and tell you how it goes. 
Let's get one thing straight: I love my job and I have an easy commute. I catch The Connector one block from my home, and step off the bus across the street from my building at Microsoft's Redmond Campus. I work in an great office with our own Surface to fiddle with and gorgeous graffiti art and people playing Rock Band in the lobby.
...Sweet as the ride and the office may be, there's no denying that I am a Seattleite who commutes 12 miles each way to work at Microsoft's Redmond campus. And there's also no denying that I'm insanely jealous of my colleagues who live in Seattle and get to work at Microsoft ... in Seattle.
So this week I'm crushing out on Microsoft's South Lake Union office. My commute this morning consisted of a 10 minute Metro bus ride. Granted, there was no wifi and the seats weren't as cushy as The Connector, but I was only wifi-less for 10 minutes, and even a geek like me can manage for 10 minutes.
Once I got off the bus, the Space Needle was all, "OH HELLO THERE! Please allow me to walk with you to work." And so I tootled along down Westlake with the Needle poking its head around buildings saying "O hai. You're totally in Seattle right now. Not Redmond. Did you cross a bridge to get here? ...I didn't think so!"
Then, with a jolly "brrrring-ding-ding!" the South Lake Union trolley (affectionately known around town as the S.L.U.T.) went rumbling by and I was struck by the fact that oh my goodness, if you lived in Seattle's Belltown or Eastlake neighborhoods and worked at the South Lake Union office ... you could totally ride the S.L.U.T. to work.
In other words, South Lake Union has pretty much the best commuting options ever. *sigh* ...I love my job in Redmond and I love The Connector ... but I dream of working at the South Lake Union office.
PS: To all you Seattlites who say you'll never work for Microsoft because of the commute (that was totally me for 10 freaking years!) there are tons of developer jobs open in South Lake Union.
Tomorrow's Field Trip focus: Sniffing around the South Lake Union building and neighborhood.
Employees Score with Touchdown Space
Temporary workspace in Seattle offers relief from an ugly drive to Redmond. Reserve a space, shorten your commute, and preserve your sanity.
By Steve Birge
May 2, 2008
Crossing the dreaded Lake Washington bridges to get to work in Redmond is a lot less painful if you stay in Seattle.
For many Seattle residents, the new Worklink Touchdown space in the Westlake/Terry building in downtown Seattle is a welcome relief. The new space opened April 14. It offers loads of airy temporary desk space, meeting rooms and collaboration areas, and enclosed phone/Live Meeting rooms. It’s located just downstairs from existing Microsoft offices in Seattle.
About 150 spaces are available for FTEs to reserve for up to five consecutive work days. The bright, collegial space is not meant to replace assigned offices, but rather to offer a workplace for the convenience of employees in Seattle, said Cindy Quitasol, development manager for Americas Real Estate.
“If you have a meeting downtown and you live on this side [of the lake], or if you’re from another location and have a meeting in Seattle, you can stop here and get some work done,” she said. “Or maybe you have a doctor or other type of appointment in Seattle—instead of driving back across the lake, you can come here, work, and go home. It takes out a lot of commute time.”
The Seattle Touchdown space is another program in the Worklink initiative, which, among other things, also operates the Microsoft Connector bus service. Users have access to day-use lockers, copiers and faxes, and a large kitchen/common space. The desks, each with wired and Wi-Fi access to Corpnet, have some partitioning so that occupants can focus, but the overall layout is open.
Michael Grochau, a group program manager in the AdCenter group, was enthusiastic about the space but suggested minor adjustments. “From an ergonomic perspective, it would be great if there was a monitor, keyboard, and mouse set up,” he said. “But I’m saving money on gas, I’m able to walk to the gym, the lockers are great, and being downtown is great. It’s about organizing work time as well. You have to have face time with your team and managers, so it’s making me be more structured with my time.”
There are meeting rooms, but furniture in several areas allow for team discussions in a more comfortable setting akin to a lounge. There are also a number of “phone rooms,” with doors that enable phone or Live Meeting discussions without bothering other users.
The ability to have remote meetings is important to Nir Froimovici, a lead program manager with AdCenter. “I had a challenge working here [at Touchdown], being a manager and making sure I had enough face time with my team,” he said. “But we worked it out with the virtual technology we have. I provided a Webcam to everybody on my team, so we had what we required to have our weekly meeting.”
Quitasol said the Touchdown space is getting decent traffic but expects use to build as the word gets out. It is actually a pilot facility, said Kristine Lea, senior manager in North America Facilities and Services. She said Microsoft is looking at other opportunities for expansion of the concept but wants to wait to see how the new Seattle space is used before moving ahead. Quitasol said there are not specific expectations about how well used it will be, but response to date has been positive.
“We’re sensing a lot of people are really excited about it,” she said. “We’ve seen a lot of interest in e-mails from people who live here and people who’ve used the space seem to be very pleased.”
