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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?

#131

Post by eyko »

blattimwind wrote: post #85
majewsky wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> maybe 60sqft-ish? For those of us with non-ridiculous units, that's 5-6 m².

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

I worked from a 2.2m x 2.5m "pod" office once and it was great, but the views also helped. Imagine one wall being a massive screen window in the country side with views of a lake, and the opposite wall being mostly window, leading to a balcony overlooking and inside courtyard (where other pods also look into). The side walls were exposed brick and the ceiling was at a decent height. The entire building was an old Arabic courtyard house that had been restored.

Small spaces _can_ be amazing :)

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

#132

Post by ben1040 »

carlosdp wrote: post #5

Fog Creek famously has a non-open office space [1] [1] https://medium.com/make-better-software/beyond-open-offices-...

I don't know if Trello still works this way after the spinoff from Fog Creek and subsequent Atlassian acquisition, but I visited Trello's NYC office and they had a similar setup to Fog Creek's. Trello also has a significant number of remote employees.

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

#133

Post by dgacmu »

dalbasal wrote: post #64

Where I have found open floor to be fine is small companies of 5-15 people, as long as there are quite corners to retreat to. There are some collaboration advantages to open plan, and I feel that for some (small) size, these can outweigh the distraction and blender-brain effect. I always wonder why people don't split the difference, chop up the big company office into 5-10 person mini open plan offices.

Google Pittsburgh is like this in many places. I like it.

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

#135

Post by aphextron »

hordeallergy wrote: post #94

It's not acceptable. I've moved from a dev background to having a go at sre/devops/something-or-other; work aside, the culture is excrutiating, with people shouting across the office all day. Best case, someone talking to themself hour after hour, as if anyone wants to hear that. The idea that open floor plans are productive is farce. I effectively have two jobs, the first being just trying to get any work done.

It's also extremely unhealthy. I've never been so sick in my entire life as since I started this job a year ago. Literally herded like cattle into an open air room with hundreds of other people from all around the world coughing and sneezing in your face all day. I'll never ever accept another position with this kind of setup.

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

#138

Post by tbrownaw »

sheepmullet wrote: post #89
Moodles wrote: post #86

Have there been any studies on what kind of office floor plans are actually optimal for work?

> Have there been any studies on what kind of office floor plans are actually optimal for work? It's hard - every study of individuals shows they are significantly less productive in an open office environment. But what second order effects are there? You might be less productive individually but it might encourage team work and make the team as a whole more effective.

So where does all that supposed extra productivity come from? How does something get done, without any individual having done it?

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

#139

Post by goda90 »

lgessler wrote: post #12

Epic (the EMR vendor) has all employees in an office of at most two people, with one per office being the goal.

And the goal is practically reached. Almost every office without a window has one person unless otherwise requested.

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

#140

Post by ebbv »

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..

Wow that sounds like a waking nightmare.

If I had to sit on bench seating all day I'd probably quit after a week.

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