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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?

#121

Post by KozmoNau7 »

brian-armstrong wrote: post #92
KozmoNau7 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has gotten to the point where I'm seriously considering just working from home every day, even though that's strictly not allowed. Open-plan offices are absolutely maddening, I get pulled out of my thoughts constantly, and there's no effective way to shut it out. Earplugs aren't enough, and with headphones I would have to play music so loudly it would be annoying my colleagues, just in order to cut out the constan…

You might try earplugs and earmuffs at the same time. It's a pretty effective level of sound isolation.

I have considered this, but it's going to be very uncomfortable for a full workday.

I've also tried earphones with music, but I can't work like that for long, I just start listening to the music instead. I need peace and quiet.

And of course there's the issue of visual noise as well.

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

#122

Post by exergy »

os72 wrote: post #120

Virtually everyone has an individual office where I work. Our CEO has the motto "give them a door, a window and the fastest computer money can buy".

Sounds like he read Jeff Atwood's Programmer Bill of Rights. May his tribe increase.

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

#123

Post by ecshafer »

jrootabega wrote: post #116
KozmoNau7 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has gotten to the point where I'm seriously considering just working from home every day, even though that's strictly not allowed. Open-plan offices are absolutely maddening, I get pulled out of my thoughts constantly, and there's no effective way to shut it out. Earplugs aren't enough, and with headphones I would have to play music so loudly it would be annoying my colleagues, just in order to cut out the constan…

You shouldn't have to strap something to your face just to get work done. That's for animals. What about your seatmate who eats hot lunch next to you? That's your problem; put in your noseplugs. People walking around constantly? Put on your horse blinders.

People walking by is my big thing. I hate people being in my peripheral vision when I am trying to work. That and feeling like people are behind me..it's much worse than the sound.

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

#124

Post by kpil »

kabdib wrote: post #53
wskemper wrote: post #20

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…

I worked in a similar environment at Apple, when Infinite Loop first opened: Pods with offices that surrounded a central courtyard, which was furnished with sofas, chairs and whiteboards. Each office had a simple (and heavy) door alongside a tall and narrow window. The door provided effective sound isolation, and years later I realized the window was a psychological link to what was going on in the inner "courtyard",…

+1 for the Microserfs reference!

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

#125

Post by noir_lord »

kpil wrote: post #124
kabdib wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked in a similar environment at Apple, when Infinite Loop first opened: Pods with offices that surrounded a central courtyard, which was furnished with sofas, chairs and whiteboards. Each office had a simple (and heavy) door alongside a tall and narrow window. The door provided effective sound isolation, and years later I realized the window was a psychological link to what was going on in the inner "courtyard",…

+1 for the Microserfs reference!

I'd forgotten that book existed,I need to read it again, it's up there with "office space" for humourous tech related media.

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

#126

Post by noir_lord »

danielbarla wrote: post #91
blattimwind wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's rather small, even for a single-person office.

Sure, however I'm currently sitting in a kind of cubicle (on an open plan floor), with 4 developers sharing what seems to be about a 3.5m x 3.5m space (I'm 1.8m, and if we all stand up and put our arms out, they'd touch), which brings it to just under 13m2, or 3.2 m2 per person. There are teams that are more cramped than even this, which I find pretty sad.

My office is 4m by 8m and there is only me in it.

Boss was happy for me to work somewhere quiet and the only space we had was an unused meeting room that takes up up half the second floor of our second building.

It's glorious.

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

#127

Post by hfdgiutdryg »

ghostcluster wrote: post #61
blabla_blublu wrote: post #2

Several teams in Apple don't have an open floor plan. They pair two individuals in an office.

Except that the gigantic multibillion dollar new space ring was explicitly designed around big open office units, long tables with bench seating , and the 'privacy pods' are exposed clear glass on all sides..

long tables with bench seating

So everyone at the table has to have identical ergonomics?

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

#128

Post by noir_lord »

KozmoNau7 wrote: post #121
brian-armstrong wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might try earplugs and earmuffs at the same time. It's a pretty effective level of sound isolation.

I have considered this, but it's going to be very uncomfortable for a full workday. I've also tried earphones with music, but I can't work like that for long, I just start listening to the music instead. I need peace and quiet. And of course there's the issue of visual noise as well.

Silicon ear plugs are amazing, I sleep with them in (insomnia), they kill sound better than foam, mould to fit so stay in and warm up to body temperature so you don't know they are even there.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bio-Ears-Silicone-EarPlugs-Protecti...

I split one in two and use them that way, I've gotten to work with them in before without noticing, maybe worth a shot.

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

#130

Post by ben1040 »

davidmoffatt wrote: post #22

Yes I too would love to see this. Noise canceling headphone seem to cancel everything but voices and that is the opposite of what you need.

My problem with noise canceling headphones is that while you can use them just for their ANC and have no music playing, it gets extra uncomfortable.

My brain can't handle feeling sound pressure on my ears from the ANC, but not hearing the noise because the ANC canceled it out. It gives me a really wicked headache.

I have to have something playing all the time I'm wearing the headphones, which is a problem because that can be a distraction in and of itself.

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