Life at Google gives an interesting overview of the Google experience from the perspective of an ex-Microsoft employee.
The one thing that caught my attention is their concept of “Tech Stops”:
Each floor of each building has one. They handle all of the IT stuff for employees in the building including troubleshooting networks, machines, etc.
Among the benefits:
It encourages a more flexible model for employees to define their OWN equipment needs. E.g. a “Developer” gets a workstation, a second workstation or a laptop, and a test machine. You’re free to visit the Tech Stop to swap any of the machines for any of the others in those categories.
Obviously Google believes that spending a little more upfront to have employees properly equipped will pay off in productivity gains. Comparing this system to the way most IT departments operate:
...in the end developers always end up with a growing collection of mostly useless “old” machines instead of a steady state of about 3 mostly up-to-date machines.
So true.