Glorious new office for Zest software¶

Yesterday, monday, was our first day in our new office after the move: yeah, great office space. Every one of us looked happy and content. I was merrily working throughout the afternoon and suddenly noticed that it was 17:45 (I had to go home at 17:00 in order to eat before people arrived)... I just didn't look at the time. I blame it on the nice building :-)

The old location started to get cramped (see last photo), so we needed the extension. Jean-Paul and Esther (=bosses) did manage to find a good office that they're rightfully mighty proud of. Three random things that I especially like:

• Two entire walls filled with whiteboards. I love whiteboards and have a big one at home. Zest's new office takes it to a new level. We immediately put the whiteboards to good use to plan out a new customer project.
• Big Window. One of the long walls is all glass. From floor to ceiling. The programmers are on the second floor: when you come up the stairs the first thing you see is a big open space and a wide view outside. Loads of light, loads of openness. Gives me a feeling I'm capable of more: more overview of projects, better architectures, less bugs, whatever :-)
• Dead next to the metro (=subway). On a day, it shaves 2x10=20 minutes off my commute compared to the old office location. If I manage to be more strict in my morning routine, this bit of margin ought to allow me to be home on a better time. I have a 1 hour 35 commute (one-way) now (was 1h45) three days a week (I work at home two days a week). So I mostly got home just when dinner was finished. Those 20 minutes might make quite a difference!

There's some work to be done on the office, of course. But the office is off to a good start, seeing everyone's enthousiasm on the first day!

The location? Right here , but it is a brand new building, so google maps doesn't have it on its satelite photo yet :-)