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".
Where's that? It sounds like heaven.
Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?
191–200 of 356 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?
#192Never understood the rationale behind open floor offices. I currently work in a cubicle set up, and people set up war rooms anytime they want close collaboration. Open offices seem to take this exceptional case and make it the norm. At the same time open floor offices cause a lot of trouble to people in non-exception situations.
> Never understood the rationale behind open floor offices. You can have an appealing environment to work in for 5-15 and within the same space scale that up all the way to an 80 person battery farm office without spending any more money.
I've seen swoopy spacey open office environments with lower person density than cubicles or offices. There will be no walls other than bathroom walls doesn't necessarily imply high density although it makes it somewhat easier.
Three guys in a 6x6 cubicle is much quieter and more productive than an open office, but it arguably takes up less space than all but the most extreme density open offices. Another analogy is if you insist on packing people in like crowded picnic tables or middle school lunchroom tables, merely spending an inch to put up walls isn't going to impact seating arrangements.
Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Except that isn’t true. Ergo is a really big deal at Apple. You get a standard chair, but you can have an ergo evaluation and they’ll buy you whatever chair you need if your existing chair isn’t correct.
Nobody is spending their work day on benches; that’s a fact.
Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?
#194I get I'm part of the privileged few, but: I've been working for a small software company for almost 11 years, and EVERYONE at my company is remote. We don't lease any real estate anywhere, unless a mailbox and a colo rack count. It's AWESOME, but there are caveats. The biggest one is that we can't really hire newbies; everyone we've brought in has to be mid-career at a minimum because the absence of the "water coole…
This is very interesting, because your office sounds like hell to me. Any time I work from home I'm absolutely desperate for meaningless social interaction, a walk and a chat while out for coffee, a beer with my team at lunch or after work and face to face discussion. I guess it's hard to find something that works for everyone.
Interesting. I work from home most often, and I find that not having to tack on a 2 1/2 hr daily car commute leaves me time for actually socializing IRL as opposed to trying to cram that need into the office.
Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
I once quit a job because there was a guy who constantly talked to himself. Your mumbling might cause severe mental anguish in those around you.
In most offices people will talk around you. Sometimes to others, sometimes to themselves. If that triggers your 'severe menal anguish', seek employment somewhere with a dedicated office or working from home.
No. If you must talk to yourself then you should "seek employment somewhere with a dedicated office or work from home" -- if you were so important that your productivity should come at the expense of those around you then you would already have an office.
Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?
#196Yes 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.
I bought Sennheiser HD 280 Pro for this reason. Am pretty happy with them so far (which is just a couple weeks).
I had a pair of QC25s and while they were nice, they did the worst at blocking out the noise I most wanted to block out.
Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?
#197Several teams in Apple don't have an open floor plan. They pair two individuals in an office.
And lots of teams have single developer offices. Saying “at Apple” is meaningless because there are a wide variety of situations.
Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?
#198Earlier 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!
Flat foods only.
Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?
#199Cisco Norway (where I work) doesn't have open floor plans. Cisco San Jose (the HQ) is a different story though. Also, I doubt that Basecamp (formerly named 37signals) has open floor plans.
They do have open floor plans, but also five "team rooms": https://basecamp.com/about/office
And they also treat that open plan “like a library.” Vastly different than the frat house open plans of most companies.
Re: Ask HN: What are some tech companies that do not use an open floor plan?
#200I juuuust got off a catch-up call with an old college buddy who works at one of the big wireless companies. He described what I read about here on HN and in some blog posts: The company completely changed its "culture" in a desperate attempt to "attract millennials" (and be on trend). Moved to an open floor plan where nobody has an assigned desk. You literally cannot leave anything overnight or you get some sort of a…
It's called 'hot-desking'. In practice everyone still sits in the same place every day, and sublimizes their territorial marking. Sitting in 'someone else's' spot is seriously frowned upon.
This trend happened when the 'open plan' needed a next level of hell.