Whether an office's desks, meeting rooms and shared machines are enough depends not only on the number of staff but on how many come in, how the rooms are used and when lunch starts. Here are five examples an AI simulated in earlier articles for a 64-desk office with the tool it calls over MCP (sweep_process_parameters).
1. By the set-up
| Example | Set-up | What is measured | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hot desking (64 desks, 60% coming in) | 92 staff | Days someone found no desk (of 50) | 0 days |
| Hot desking (64 desks, 60% coming in) | 106 staff | Days someone found no desk (of 50) | 25 days |
| Hot desking (64 desks, 60% coming in) | 114 staff | Days someone found no desk (of 50) | 40 days |
| Three meeting rooms (a day, mean of 20 runs) | As now | Meetings that found no room | 11.9 meetings |
| Three meeting rooms (a day, mean of 20 runs) | One-person calls kept out of the rooms | Meetings that found no room | 10.6 meetings |
| Three meeting rooms (a day, mean of 20 runs) | A movable partition in room A | Meetings that found no room | 9.8 meetings |
| Three meeting rooms (a day, mean of 20 runs) | All three (calls, an hour's limit, the partition) and four phone booths | Meetings that found no room | 6.1 meetings |
| Printers (each printing once an hour, mean of 20 runs) | One | Waiting at the printer (mean) | 13.3 minutes |
| Printers (each printing once an hour, mean of 20 runs) | Two | Waiting at the printer (mean) | 0.4 minutes |
| One microwave (40% heating a lunch, mean of 20 runs) | All at 12:00 | Waiting for the microwave (mean) | 20.4 minutes |
| One microwave (40% heating a lunch, mean of 20 runs) | Two halves, 30 minutes apart | Waiting for the microwave (mean) | 9.3 minutes |
| Two lift cars at lunch (half going out, mean of 20 runs) | Everyone at 12:00 | Down (mean) | 4.2 minutes |
| Two lift cars at lunch (half going out, mean of 20 runs) | Staggered | Down (mean) | 1.6 minutes |
2. What they show
- Enough on average still runs short on some days. With 64 hot desks and 60% of staff coming in, the average attendance fits up to 106 staff (106 × 0.6 = 63.6), but with 106 staff someone finds no desk on 25 of 50 days. With 92 staff, no day runs short.
- Cut the meetings without a room by changing how the rooms are used. Keeping one-person calls out of the rooms cuts the meetings with no room from 11.9 to 10.6, splitting room A cuts them to 9.8, and all the changes with phone booths to 6.1.
- At lunch, staggering does about what more machines do. One microwave's wait of 20.4 minutes with everyone at 12:00 falls to 9.3 minutes with lunch in two halves; with two lift cars, the 4.2 minutes down falls to 1.6 staggered. A second printer cuts the wait from 13.3 minutes to 0.4.
3. The articles
- Hot desking: how many desks for your staff?
- Are there enough meeting rooms?
- How many printers for the office?
- How many microwaves for the office?
- How long is the wait for the lifts at lunch?
4. How to ask an AI
If this office (as drawn, 64 desks) goes to hot desking with 60% coming in, compare how many of 50 days someone finds no desk for different numbers of staff.
5. What this does not cover
- The share coming in, the meetings and how long they last, and the times to print, heat food and ride the lifts are each article's assumptions. Replace them with your own office's entry and booking records.
