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What photos of Facebook’s new headquarters say about work

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Re: What photos of Facebook’s new headquarters say about work

#11

Post by friendzis »

tempestn wrote: post #9

It's interesting watching the juxtaposed trends of increased remote work and... this, in the tech sector. Clearly there is a trend away from "traditional" offices, but it appears to be moving in two fundamentally opposite directions at the same time. Of course, both share one significant feature: cost savings compared to a more traditional office environment. I guess another similarity could be increased equality, al…

The parent I wanted to reply to got deleted, but it feels quite suitable here, so here are my thoughts on difficulties of working in an open office:

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[Not an FB employee, but] Most of my workspaces have been semi-open: offices/rooms with ~10 workplaces scattered around, maybe a glass wall or a shelf here and there. As for HN, FB, etc: it highly depends on the culture, but if the office is open not for control - you just open and browse. One might as well browse stackexchange (e.g. arqade) for leisure or code personal project. The terribleness of NSFW link would be the shame/embarrassment you inflict on yourself and maybe an occasional finger pointing if anyone happens to witness.

The noise level is definitely higher than in a private office, but then again - culture. Either your colleagues are understanding to keep the noise level down or not. I can/could easily listen to music at comfortable levels even with open headphones.

A much bigger issue is that people tend to have coffee/smoke breaks in groups and it requires some self control not to take a break with each and every group. I'm not sure whether that's an issue, but since people tend to work different hours (e.g. 7-16, 9-18) it also puts some unconscious pressure to work 9-16 or 7-18.

Quite a lot of the "issues" (differences from an office) are related to the person/culture and not the workplace itself.

Re: What photos of Facebook’s new headquarters say about work

#12

Post by mclemme »

Visited an IBM office in San Francisco, near market street iirc, back in 2006 on a study trip, cubicles everywhere and a promise of a bigger cubicle, a cubicle with view of a window or maybe even a corner office if you had X years at the company. It all seemed pretty ridiculous to everyone in my class.

But this seems equally ridiculous, worked 4 places before starting my own company, and open office spaces were a thing in all of them. They ranged from absolutely horrible to fantastic. Good noise canceling headphones can cancel out most sounds, but there's no "cure" for visual disturbances, which for me (and a good part of my former colleagues), are almost as bad for my concentration as sounds. So in the worst open office spaces, there was always a "race" to get the best spots, whenever anyone moved places. By good spots I mean spots away from the main walking paths and a place where no one walks behind you and there's no visual stimuli other than maybe a window to gaze out of when wrestling with some weird bug in your mind.

Of course you can go in a meeting room when you want absolute isolation, but working on code it is awesome having two big monitors as well as peace and quiet, both audio and visual (or maybe I just have the attention span of a goldfish).

The best designed open office space I've worked in was the Spotify office in Stockholm, Sweden, squad areas closed on three sides, open on the fourth and with a little sofa corner and mini meeting room in each: http://tech.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2014-05-07-11.19.2...

Re: What photos of Facebook’s new headquarters say about work

#13

Post by enraged_camel »

te_chris wrote: post #7

I'm always surprised to see the awful spaces these companies come up with in SV, having been to both FB and Goog's london offices, which are both very nice.

It's not the companies coming up with the spaces. It's the architects who want to make a name for themselves and earn their astronomical paychecks.

Re: What photos of Facebook’s new headquarters say about work

#16

Post by waterlesscloud »

enraged_camel wrote: post #13
te_chris wrote: post #7

I'm always surprised to see the awful spaces these companies come up with in SV, having been to both FB and Goog's london offices, which are both very nice.

It's not the companies coming up with the spaces. It's the architects who want to make a name for themselves and earn their astronomical paychecks.

The companies are approving them and paying for them, and thus bear the ultimate responsibility for their designs.

Re: What photos of Facebook’s new headquarters say about work

#17

Post by hkmurakami »

tempestn wrote: post #9

It's interesting watching the juxtaposed trends of increased remote work and... this, in the tech sector. Clearly there is a trend away from "traditional" offices, but it appears to be moving in two fundamentally opposite directions at the same time. Of course, both share one significant feature: cost savings compared to a more traditional office environment. I guess another similarity could be increased equality, al…

Just 10 years ago, we would scoff at the high density office environment of the Japanese Salaryman. The same salaryman who would die of overwork and jump into running trains. What happened? I'm genuinely perplexed.

http://www.accountant-tokyo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/J...

Re: What photos of Facebook’s new headquarters say about work

#18

Post by ipsum2 »

jedberg wrote: post #10

Zuck may not technically have an office, but if it's anything like the other places I've worked where "the CEO sits right out in the open with everyone else!", then he probably has a conference room reserved for his use 24/7. And this actually makes sense. A lot of what he would talk about would be insider information. You don't want to hear that as an employee.

Yes, Zuck has his own office that he spends most of his time in. What's neat is that his office is in the middle of Building 20 and has glass walls, so anyone can see what he's up to and who he's meeting.

Re: What photos of Facebook’s new headquarters say about work

#19

Post by ipsum2 »

enraged_camel wrote: post #13
te_chris wrote: post #7

I'm always surprised to see the awful spaces these companies come up with in SV, having been to both FB and Goog's london offices, which are both very nice.

It's not the companies coming up with the spaces. It's the architects who want to make a name for themselves and earn their astronomical paychecks.

The architect of Facebook's new building is Frank Gehry, already well known for his works: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gehry

Re: What photos of Facebook’s new headquarters say about work

#20

Post by akjetma »

enraged_camel wrote: post #13
te_chris wrote: post #7

I'm always surprised to see the awful spaces these companies come up with in SV, having been to both FB and Goog's london offices, which are both very nice.

It's not the companies coming up with the spaces. It's the architects who want to make a name for themselves and earn their astronomical paychecks.

Frank Gehry definitely doesn't have to make a name for himself. I'm surprised by how unattractive this is. Though, come to think of it, I can't picture the interior of any Frank Gehry buildings while I can see lots of exteriors.
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