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Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#11

Post by LoSboccacc »

dx034 wrote: post #9
kayamon wrote: post #8

Lots of (in fact most?) companies don't have an open plan office. When I used to work at Activision, they didn't and still don't. > How is this acceptable? Because it's totally fine. If you can't work with another human nearby you might want to get over yourself and think about what you're doing with your life.

I think it's more about the noise level. Open plan office means that there's constant noise from talking and phones. Some can ignore that noise but for others, noise cancelling headphones are the only solution. Easier communication is certainly a benefit but I'm not sure if it outweighs the loss in productivity, especially for people that don't constantly have to talk to others to do their job.

Easier communication also lead in my anecdotal experoence to people brain borrowing all day from the resident domain expert. This is great for overall productivity but constant sidetracking burns developer will fast. When combined with performance metrics based on delivery alone it becomes a recipe for total disaster.

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#13

Post by rhizome31 »

kayamon wrote: post #8

Lots of (in fact most?) companies don't have an open plan office. When I used to work at Activision, they didn't and still don't. > How is this acceptable? Because it's totally fine. If you can't work with another human nearby you might want to get over yourself and think about what you're doing with your life.

Yet you'll find a lot of people resorting to remote work when they need to be at their optimal productivity level. In these open office plans, not much work gets done. This isn't necessary a bad thing because working hard is tiring.

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#15

Post by ehnto »

kayamon wrote: post #8

Lots of (in fact most?) companies don't have an open plan office. When I used to work at Activision, they didn't and still don't. > How is this acceptable? Because it's totally fine. If you can't work with another human nearby you might want to get over yourself and think about what you're doing with your life.

It's doable sure but there is a better option so why not persue it? It's a relevant and genuine concern. Any business owner should be interested in making sure distraction free work is possible somehow in their company, distracted employees are less productive.

On the thinking about what they are doing with their life comment, not necessary and what they seem to be doing with their life is finding a better place to work. Seems pretty productive to me.

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#16

Post by dtech »

tintor wrote: post #10
dx034 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's more about the noise level. Open plan office means that there's constant noise from talking and phones. Some can ignore that noise but for others, noise cancelling headphones are the only solution. Easier communication is certainly a benefit but I'm not sure if it outweighs the loss in productivity, especially for people that don't constantly have to talk to others to do their job.

Noise cancelling headphones will cancel low frequency sounds like fans / AC, but not high frequency ones like talking and phones.

Have you tried one? Mine significantly dampens and distorts speech so that it becomes easy to ignore.

It's a recent Sony top-model, which from reviews seems to be on the top together with Bose regarding NC technology at the moment.

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#17

Post by richforrester »

LoSboccacc wrote: post #11
dx034 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's more about the noise level. Open plan office means that there's constant noise from talking and phones. Some can ignore that noise but for others, noise cancelling headphones are the only solution. Easier communication is certainly a benefit but I'm not sure if it outweighs the loss in productivity, especially for people that don't constantly have to talk to others to do their job.

Easier communication also lead in my anecdotal experoence to people brain borrowing all day from the resident domain expert. This is great for overall productivity but constant sidetracking burns developer will fast. When combined with performance metrics based on delivery alone it becomes a recipe for total disaster.

Yeah, you really have to develop a personality that's able to deal with the interruptions. From both sides: you need to change, and you need to change others.

Besides that part, there's plenty of roles where you can negotiate time to work from elsewhere on the odd occasion. At that point it becomes a time management excercise that's mostly not too difficult to solve.

Oh, and take these types of situations into account when discussing your KPIs, if they affect them. Always have KPIs because they're not just there to help your employer - they're also your leverage in negotiations. You did better than your initial goal because of [X], but you can also be worse than your goal because of [Y]. This means [Y] needs to be adjusted. Or your KPIs.

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#19

Post by jmspring »

e-_pusher wrote: post #18

Microsoft is slowly switching to open floor plans, but for now a lot of folks have their own offices, or are doubling up at most.

SVC is being redone in open floor plan. Those in Redmond being converted often have PMs and Engineers doubling up in the same office - two total separate use cases. Some roles mitigate this with remote work.

Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?

#20

Post by wskemper »

I work for Viasat; all of our new-build offices in the past few years have been designed around what we call the neighborhood concept. A neighborhood is a set of individual offices (maybe 60sqft-ish?) with three solid walls, and one glass/wood wall with a sliding door. All the offices open into a central room that can be outfitted in a bunch of different ways. There are neighborhoods of different sizes, and basically, each team gets a neighborhood to themselves. The whole concept was developed through a series of experiments that took several years.

Some teams make use of the space better than others, of course, but for my group it's been a huge boon to our collaborative culture. The offices are well-insulated, so you don't need headphones to achieve quiet, but if you want to, you can leave your door open and hear what your teammates are discussing at any time.

Over time we're upgrading our older facilities to the same model, but in general there are few open-plan offices or cube farms in the company, and I highly doubt we're going to build more. Many years ago, our founders made it a company priority to give folks a door they can close, to get away from "it all" and focus.

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