Someone, please do the #math/#logic. I've done it, and I want to make sure this is right.

If you have 100 employees, and they come into the office three days a week on the days of their choosing, what is the absolute minimum number of desks needed to accommodate them?

If a person assigns days to minimize overlap, do you see a way for it to be less than 100?

@LouisIngenthron

Follow

@ThinkingSapien In a proper workspace for human beings? No.
In a box-factory for employee-person-units? Sure, you could get it down to 3/5ths (based on 3 days per 5 day work week), so 60 desks.

I think I walked that same path that you are. 60 was my initial thought too.

@LouisIngenthron

@ThinkingSapien Okay, yep, if you schedule it properly, the answer is indeed 60. I wrote a scheduler to test my theory. I've included the source code and results below.

@ThinkingSapien But the answer to your initial query, where employees choose their days, is still 100.

I don't know what i was doing in my initial math. But insat down and scheduled 1 to 10 employees on paper and see the needed desks increasing according to the function

int DesksNeeded(int employeeCount)
{
return Math.ceiling( ((float)employeeCount)*3.0f/5.0f)
}

@LouisIngenthron

But yes, I should not assume humans will naturally settle on the most efficient behaviour pattern. I might see more people on Wednesday, the day they pass out bagels. Or those days with free lunch or town halls.

@LouisIngenthron

Sign in to participate in the conversation
CleverLibre Social

CleverLibre Social is an inclusive social instance for open discussion, learning, and community.
All cultures welcome.
Hate speech and harassment strictly forbidden.