My middle managers came to me with what I thought was a crazy request. They wanted the ability to collocate the team in one workspace. Oh, and yes, they wanted enough private spaces that people could go hide in a "cave"—that’s what they called it—for a while.

I’ve spent my entire career doing and managing software. I’d never seen this team workspace nonsense before. One of the managers, Sarah, asked me to spend an hour walking around, seeing what the team did.

First, I saw a standup at a board. Okay, I have to admit I was impressed when people stepped up and said they could help each other finish work. But they’re a team. What else would I expect?

Then I saw a pair—a developer/tester pair—working together to solve a problem. That was a bit of a surprise. What was even more surprising was the fact that they had to squish into his cube because she didn’t have enough room. Sarah and I spoke with them and that’s when the tester told me she liked to work from home because she had enough room there. I guess she told me.

I walked around and saw more people working in triads and even one quartet. I had been impressed with the team’s throughput. When I realized I could run interference with Facilities, I was all in. Especially if they keep this throughput up.