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The Solution for Open Office Frustration

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Re: The Solution for Open Office Frustration

#61

Post by tedmiston »

sean_patel wrote: post #38
redwards510 wrote: post #25

Don't bother reading this article. The "solution"presented is to install red/green lights at your desk to signal to people not to walk up and interrupt you. That isn't the problem. The problem is NOISE, NOISE EVERYWHERE!

The solution is to penalize the offenders, in a nice way. I interned at Goldman Sachs on an FX trading floor (very open plan). We had an Interrupter Jar. Everytime someone interupted another person, the interrupter was required to put 20$ (yes 20$, it's chump change for FX Traders) into it. When it filled up, we'd go out and buy beers for the entire team. It worked quite well until we had a fratboy from Boston Colleg…

> He would interrupt me just so he can fill up the jar and we go drinking.

Now that's a pathological case.

Re: The Solution for Open Office Frustration

#62

Post by tedmiston »

greenshackle2 wrote: post #11
Twirrim wrote: post #7

I've got an amazing idea. Go away from open plan offices. I'm really baffled that that wasn't one of the solutions in the article. Red and Green coloured cubes? Lights? Ugly attempts to mask the symptoms, rather than fix the real problem: Open plan offices suck for productivity.

That's what I was thinking, especially reading this line: > With the vast majority of us now working in open concept offices — some studies have said that 70% of US workers work in this kind of environment — companies are being forced to come up with novel ways to ensure we stay productive and don’t find ourselves driven delirious from the noise and chaos. They are being forced . Who chose the open office concept in…

> Who chose the open office concept in the first place!?

For startups — budgets. If closed offices were the same price I doubt we'd hear so much discussion about the benefits of open offices while turning one's head the other way when it comes to the downsides.

Re: The Solution for Open Office Frustration

#63

Post by tedmiston »

cle wrote: post #26

I am getting so sick of open office plans. I have a colored light (a Blink(1), for those curious), and I have keyboard shortcuts for turning the light red/green, with a large sign next to the light that says "If light is red, I'm busy." I also wear very visible (and expensive) noise-cancelling headphones. Even these very direct techniques don't work--people ignore the light and interrupt me anyway. It's gotten to the…

It sounds like a cultural solution might be more helpful than a tech solution in this case. Something like a standardized headphones policy. Or separating the people whose work is mostly quiet vs mostly talkative.

Re: The Solution for Open Office Frustration

#64

Post by loco5niner »

imh wrote: post #21
Twirrim wrote: post #7

I've got an amazing idea. Go away from open plan offices. I'm really baffled that that wasn't one of the solutions in the article. Red and Green coloured cubes? Lights? Ugly attempts to mask the symptoms, rather than fix the real problem: Open plan offices suck for productivity.

I'm pretty sure open floor plans are so prevalent because they are so much cheaper. I've been places where they actually switched out all our desks for smaller ones so we could fit more employees. These proposals are at least stabs at getting privacy and productivity in the horrible low cost setting that's taken over.

Yep. At my company, first they got rid of cubicles and set up the open office plan. Then they moved us into rows facing each other getting rid of any extra space we had ( with only monitors keeping us from staring at each other). Then they moved us to a smaller building (right next our apparently very funny finance group). I cherish the hour when everyone else goes to lunch.

Re: The Solution for Open Office Frustration

#65

Post by loco5niner »

copperx wrote: post #52
Twirrim wrote: post #7

I've got an amazing idea. Go away from open plan offices. I'm really baffled that that wasn't one of the solutions in the article. Red and Green coloured cubes? Lights? Ugly attempts to mask the symptoms, rather than fix the real problem: Open plan offices suck for productivity.

What about small open offices? Like an office with 5-7 people in the team sharing the office? That's sounds kind of coo.

It depends on the 5-7 people. It only takes one person clipping their fingernails at their desk (yes, it happens), chewing with their mouth open, and talking loudly (all the time) to ruin it for everyone. Yes, I'm talking about the same person.

Re: The Solution for Open Office Frustration

#66

Post by loco5niner »

pawelwentpawel wrote: post #40
mmanfrin wrote: post #29

I don't care about people coming up to talk to me. It usually means they have something they need help with or an answer to. What bothers me is the noise, and no noise cancellation set of headsets work because they block out white noise but not people talking . In fact, noise cancellation headphones tend to enhance voices, since there is no background noise to dull it. Lights don't solve this. Hats don't solve this.…

I've got beats in-ear headphones. They manage to block out enough noise for me not to unwillingly listen to someone else's conversation. How many consecutive hours can you wear headphones though? I don't think that having something stuck in your ear for 40+ hours a week brings any health benefits.

For me, it brought on tinnitus....

Re: The Solution for Open Office Frustration

#67

Post by fsloth »

officialchicken wrote: post #44
fsloth wrote: post #18

Is there anyone reading this who has been involved/got the inside scoop in implementation of an open office plan. Was the change in productivity an issue? Did it happen? Was cost savings the only driving force?

Working in Arch firms, I have had conversations with business owners about ambient noise and I've never met one who cared - once the conversation moves to estimates. Yes, cost is the major driving force, Lead time/schedule isn't really an issue... outside of coordinating power, lan, HVAC, and server racks. The ADA, IBC, NFPA, and life-safety codes require slightly larger spaces than you might expect in an office sett…

Aha - so the building codes force a company to use considerably more floorspace for a group of people if those people are divided by walls? I hadn't really thought of that before - I thought someone was saving just the price of walls and the difficulty of organizing people.
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