In the last two years at Google Ventures, I’ve done design sprints with more than 80 startups. One of the simplest tricks I’ve learned is that a dedicated space with walls–a war room–always helps us do better work. The walls of a war room can extend a team’s memory, provide a canvas for shared note-taking, and act as long-term storage for works in progress.

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Unfortunately, war rooms are few and far between. I’m surprised by how many tech companies make space for a foosball table (fun but seldom used), yet don’t dedicate a room to their most important project. If your team doesn’t have a war room, don’t worry. In this post, I’ll explain how to put one together on almost any budget. Spoiler: while a dedicated physical space is great to have, it’s not an absolute necessity. But first, here’s a bit more on why war rooms work so well. Spatial memory > short-term memory To solve a complex design problem, you need to track lots of moving parts. As humans, our short-term memory is not all that good–but our spatial memory is awesome. Plaster a room with notes and you take advantage of that spatial memory. You begin to know where information is, which extends your ability to remember things. Physical ideas are easier to manipulate We all know it’s better to re-order a prioritized list of sticky notes or re-draw a diagram than to make the same decisions verbally. That’s why there are whiteboards in meeting rooms and why people love agile trackers with sticky notes. War rooms take those tools to the next level.

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Finally we ordered a bunch of flexible furniture–some of it fancy-pants (like Modernica chairs) and some utilitarian (like clipboards and a coat hanger). Here’s the complete shopping list hand-picked by Google Ventures’ Daniel Burka. Some highlights: Rolling desks (CB2) –$150 each –$150 each

Stackable chairs (Office Depot) –$410 for four –$410 for four

Rolling whiteboard (Amazon)–$550 –$550 2. Reconfigurable conference room It may be impossible to completely take over a room. If you have to share your war room, get some portable wall space that you can assemble and disassemble quickly. Your options: Sticky flip charts –Blank sheets of this stuff make a reusable, moveable backdrop for sticky notes and printouts.

Giant foam core –Foam core comes in 96″x48″ but it’s expensive and tricky to find, not to mention cumbersome. Which is why I prefer…

Rolling whiteboards–see above for our favorite. 3. No-room war room Sometimes you don’t even have a conference room to commandeer. I’ve seen this challenge at startups in incubators or shared offices. Don’t freak out. You can still make a war room by hacking the space around your desk. Use rolling whiteboards as partitions. It’s just like you’re a kid again, building a fort out of chairs and blankets! But don’t actually use blankets, because your co-workers might get creeped out. Tell me about your workspace We’re still experimenting and learning with our own war room, as well as those at our companies. How have you set up project spaces for your team?