[tianqi]

A basic principle of ancient Chinese Feng Shui is that you should not sit with your back to a space. In other words, you need to have your back against a wall, not your face facing a wall. I believe there is a reason for this. When there is a space behind you, human instinct forces you to pay a subconscious attention on that space (we are very alert to danger from behind), making it harder to concentrate on what is in front of you.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

I know that one of the main patterns in Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language was "Light From Two Sides."

Basically, corner rooms are best.

When we worked with a German company, I was impressed by their offices. They tended to have two engineers per office, with really large windows.

I was told there's actually a law that requires it.

I remember visiting the Facebook office, in New York, and was kind of aghast. It was this huge open-plan cavern, with the managers' offices around the edges (with the windows), and rows of desks, in a fairly dimly-lit pit, in the middle. Of course, the desks all faced each other, and the engineers' backs were to the aisles, with no real buffer between where people walked, and where they worked. It was also noisy.

The Japanese do something similar, but at the company I worked for, there was a lot of natural light in the open-plan offices. The managers don't get offices; just desks, nearer the windows, and the aisles were quite wide.

A VP, with a billion-dollar budget, would have a little desk in the corner that would embarrass a fifth-grade teacher.

And the offices were whisper-quiet, with hundreds of people working in the room.

[poplarsol]

It's to stop the eunuchs from murdering you.

[novaleaf]

I like to joke that if you look at every Feng Shui rule through the lens of "to reduce the risk of assassination" it all really makes sense.

Maybe it's not so much of a joke....

[silisili]

That's funny, because there was a joke going around many years ago that you could tell how much money someone had by how far their couch was from the wall.

Out of curiosity, I was trying to find a source for that, but didn't find much other than old Reddit threads and a 'viral TikTok trend.'

[kqr]

> you could tell how much money someone had by how far their couch was from the wall.

Isn't this just a proxy for room size? A couch is bulky furniture and in smaller rooms need to be tucked away. Also in smaller rooms even a pillow in the corner can see a wall-mounted TV anywhere in the room.

[silisili]

It is, I suppose that's the joke. But now we find out Feng Shui says the folks with smaller living rooms had the right idea all along.

Anecdotally, I've lived in both types of setups and vastly prefer layouts conducive to seating against the wall, regardless of room size.

[analog31]

It's also pretty widespread in the US business world. I rarely see a manager's office where they're not facing the door. I've made it my practice throughout my own career, even when it meant improvising the fixtures in dank little cubicles. Also, nobody but me sees my screen.

For a while, I had one of those kneeling chairs that I kept in front of my desk, so if you wanted to sit down and chat, it was like you had to kneel in front of me. I only did it as a joke, but it was amusing. It didn't last very long because someone took it away and replaced it with a regular chair.

[nozzlegear]

What about having a window on the wall you're facing, so you can look out it?

[tianqi]

This principle emphasizes that there should be no space behind you. It has nothing to do with the wall or window in front of you. Those are just examples I used to explain according to the original post.

If you're concerned about the window's position, ancient Feng Shui advised the window should be located to your side, specifically on the side of the hand you don't use for writing. I think their reasoning was: this way, your head and the hand you use for writing won't cast shadows on the area where you're writing.

[hahajk]

Shouldn't the window be opposite your writing hand? If the light comes from the same side as your writing hand it casts a shadow toward your eyes rather than away from your eyes

[syoleene]

That's exactly what they said

[aplzr]

Workplace safety rules for screen workers say that to avoid eye strain, windows should be to the side, not in the direction you're facing. On a bright day the light coming from the window can have an intensity multiple orders of magnitude higher than the screen. I find it very uncomfortable.

[layer8]

That’s usually bad due to the brightness contrast with the screen. The lighting of what you see next to the screen needs to be controlled, so that it can match the brightness of the screen.

[j45]

It can be good natural light for video calls.

[PunchyHamster]

I like it to the side more, if it is in front you'd have to look from above monitors to see it.

[ebbi]

There is a new trend of bringing dogs to the office, and for someone that isn't used to having a pet, it's so disruptive to my focus. So many times I'm focusing on something and then having a dog climb on to you/lick you from the aisle behind you is so jarring and disruptive.

But it's cute, so it's ok apparently.

[awakeasleep]

Try having a dog repeatedly hump your leg till completion. “Theres nothing we can do about it” I hate my office and the stupid pet rules more than you could believe.

[ian_holt]

I have a similar issue with the couple of cats we have in our office (known also as my home). Either they want to go outside, get fed (again), or simply just decide they need attention more than I need to work. But still, sometimes it is a nice distraction, and sometimes that distraction is what I needed to help me actually re-focus on the task at hand :)

[plombe]

Disagree. Misplaced context

[sedatk]

Overruled.

[Fnoord]

Yes, there is a reason for it: it is rude.

It is better for privacy and receiving clients, but a disadvantage is less physical space in the center/walking area. You can play with lego on the ground, too. I would also get rid of the bookshelf. Get an ereader. There is no way you need all those books physically in your vicinity (I am not arguing you should give up 100% on physical books).

Worse, if my desk wouldn't be at the wall (in corner) my cats wouldn't be able to hide in that corner under the desk, and they could play easier with cables which would also be way more in sight. Against the wall? Not so much. I do regret not getting a sit/stand desk, but the extra cost back then was too large. Oh, and I like Ikea. You can sell those refurbished for good price, too.

[jubilanti]

> Get an ereader. There is no way you need all those books physically in your vicinity

You know literally nothing about this person and their reference needs.