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What photos of Facebook’s new headquarters say about work

washingtonpost.com

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

#31

Post by hkmurakami »

tempestn wrote: post #28
rdl wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For startups, it's not just about the cost, it's about flexibility. It's easier to have a decent open-plan low density and 3x the people in it overall, or particularly, to 10x a certain department while 1.1xing the other departments temporarily, into a crowded shitty open plan, than it is to have a bunch of 1-2 person sized offices and somehow put 30 into a single office while keeping the others at 1-2. That's the on…

That's a great point. It's possible for everyone to have offices without having the silly office pecking order politics. Many open plans reserve the prime areas for shared spaces, and there's obviously no reason an office space couldn't (or shouldn't) do that too. In fact, that jogs a faint memory of another post on HN some months back of an office like that; all the actual offices were on the interior, and the windo…

>It's possible for everyone to have offices without having the silly office pecking order politics.

IIRC this is Microsoft right?

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

#32

Post by shreyassaxena »

It is quite interesting to see how Facebook and other corporations are re branding open-office, which in practice looks like a factory of workers. Somehow, the idea is to convince people that it promotes openness and productivity. Someone in the article says it is easy for her to schedule meetings on the fly, which also means it is easy for her to access the employees. However, not sure if I would like to be so accessible when I want to zone in, and work on a project.

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

#33

Post by Loque »

I have a friend and ex colleague that work there and they enjoy it - I have setup an open plan working space and I work somewhere now where a lot of people work from home.

I think having a space which you want to come into and work is incredibly valuable - catering to the variety of ideals is very very hard - nice to see people making the effort!

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

#36

Post by jeggeragain »

mclemme wrote: post #12

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 thi…

The FB office makes me feel anxious just looking at it (the noise and the distractions) whereas that Spotify office looks calming and a place where I could concentrate and get some real work done (just look at the white wall with the patterned lines!).

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

#37

Post by cheald »

Yikes. The push to eliminate any sense of personal space is, I think, reflective of the new dynamic between employers and employees - don't set down any roots, you may not be here long enough to matter. Don't expect me to commit to the company, I may not be here long enough to care. Ideologically and aesthetically, my reaction to this space was that it feels like a reduction of the workforce to interchangeable factory laborers.

The aesthetic feels messy, undirected, and haphazard. I'm sure that someone thinks it means "creative", but I think I'd probably just feel like I'm in a warehouse somewhere.

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

#38

Post by MrQuincle »

If it's not only software, where would the hardware people sit, or even embedded programmers with their dev. kits?

I understand the idea of allowing people to sit everywhere. I don't understand why they don't come up with a technological solution to get your desk setup of the previous day.

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

#39

Post by qznc »

> Before, people would close their door and you’d feel this real barrier to talking to them

Completely correct. I fail to understand how this is a bad thing, though. It sounds a like a good reason for doors to exist. It is well known that even short interruptions break flow and thus decrease productivity.

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

#40

Post by domfletcher »

cheald wrote: post #37

Yikes. The push to eliminate any sense of personal space is, I think, reflective of the new dynamic between employers and employees - don't set down any roots, you may not be here long enough to matter. Don't expect me to commit to the company, I may not be here long enough to care. Ideologically and aesthetically, my reaction to this space was that it feels like a reduction of the workforce to interchangeable factor…

Also indicative of Facebook as a product.

Why don't we just share all of our stuff with everyone irrespective of if it negatively affects us? SHARE SHARE SHARE!!

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