Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple staffers reportedly rebelling against open office plan

bizjournals.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

401–409 of 409 posts

Re: Apple staffers reportedly rebelling against open office plan

#401

Post by ChrisLTD »

madeofpalk wrote: post #399
rsj_hn wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are a developer who has to check in code, then you need a quiet place for focused work. You can try to argue that some developers don't need that, but those who can achieve peak concentration while context switching and talking to others are biological curiosities, if they exist at all. I haven't met anyone like that. Now most employees working in tech companies are not developers. There is a whole "developer…

> If you are a developer who has to check in code, then you need a quiet place for focused work Don't talk on behalf of me. Maybe because I'm relatively younger and I've mainly worked in open-plan offices, but I have zero problems with them. I'm not so easily distracted that simply having someone else's presence is enough to throw me off. When I need to buckle down and get some 'serious developing' going on, I just p…

> When I need to buckle down and get some 'serious developing' going on, I just put on some headphones

More proof that a noisy "collaborative" environment is not conducive to work that requires deep concentration.

Re: Apple staffers reportedly rebelling against open office plan

#402

Post by Hnrobert42 »

dingaling wrote: post #330
Hnrobert42 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suggest using Hearo's 32 NRR earplugs under the headphones. When people approach to bullshit with you, ignore them for a little bit. If they persist, make a show of taking off the headphones and extracting the earplugs. People will soon learn to leave you alone when you have your headphones on. At least, it worked for me, mostly.

> People will soon learn to leave you alone when you have your headphones on. Or there will be enough complaints about Hnrobert42's reluctance to engage with co-workers that all headphones and earphone will be banned. That's what happened in an office in which I worked. After all, you're not there to work for yourself; you're there to benefit for the company . If the company determines that assisting co-workers is mo…

If that's the company's reaction, it's time to find another company. I don't use the headphones to ignore colleagues desperate to talk about work out of preference. The comment to which I was responding was specifically about people wanting to shoot the shit. If your company, like you, can't tell the difference, I would say you are well suited to each other and not to work nor work with me.

Re: Apple staffers reportedly rebelling against open office plan

#403

Post by sencho »

loco5niner wrote: post #395
6nf wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NYC 'headqarters' is not even on their list of locations https://www.atlassian.com/company/careers so I'd be surprised if it hosts a signficant percentage of their development workforce. As far as I know their Sydney office is really the heart of their operation and it's very open plan.

I don't think he is saying Atlassian HQ is _located_ at Fog Creek, but that Atlassian HQ has a similar office plan as Fog Creek, "complete with private offices for coders".

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/atlassian-sydney-office-2...

Re: Apple staffers reportedly rebelling against open office plan

#404

Post by carapace »

abawany wrote: post #291
carapace wrote: post #191

I will take $20,000 off of my pay if you will give me my own office with a door I can close.

Don't give them any ideas. The whole open office dumpster-fire has probably been a cover to further reduce software engineer salaries. Edit: added probably.

But that's my point: I put a dollar value on an office. I think 20k/year could pay for an office, eh?

Re: Apple staffers reportedly rebelling against open office plan

#405

Post by loco5niner »

ChrisLTD wrote: post #401
madeofpalk wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you are a developer who has to check in code, then you need a quiet place for focused work Don't talk on behalf of me. Maybe because I'm relatively younger and I've mainly worked in open-plan offices, but I have zero problems with them. I'm not so easily distracted that simply having someone else's presence is enough to throw me off. When I need to buckle down and get some 'serious developing' going on, I just p…

> When I need to buckle down and get some 'serious developing' going on, I just put on some headphones More proof that a noisy "collaborative" environment is not conducive to work that requires deep concentration.

>When I need to buckle down and get some 'serious developing' going on, I just put on some headphones

by "serious developing", I'm guessing you mean "actually programming".

Re: Apple staffers reportedly rebelling against open office plan

#406

Post by loco5niner »

homosaphien1 wrote: post #40

I might be in the minority but I HATE cubicle farms and love open office design. Just give every a sound cancellation headphone if they complain. To me cubical farms are depressing.

Just give "them a good whack" if they complain. FTFY

Re: Apple staffers reportedly rebelling against open office plan

#407

Post by chmaynard »

chmaynard wrote: post #162

I worked at Apple during the years when the company designed and built its first campus at 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino. As I recall, Apple R&D employees were considered stakeholders and participated in the design of the interior spaces. Apple wisely decided to give each engineer a private office. There were open areas near the offices with comfortable furniture and whiteboards for engineers to meet and collaborate.…

Interesting. When I display my threads in HN, this comment is now hidden. Why?

Re: Apple staffers reportedly rebelling against open office plan

#408

Post by pstuart »

sobani wrote: post #381
Klover wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/s is the way to say you're being sarcastic on Reddit. So they probably meant that lines of code measurements are popular, while they shouldn't be. It's difficult keeping up with the internet lingo. For what it's worth: * You can simply see on Slack if the person is set to Away. In that case they're busy, so don't bother asking them any questions in a traditional open office plan. * A better open office plan has a qu…

at a risk of dropping below the HN value threshold: whoosh

I got it and appreciate the mutation of my statement.

Re: Apple staffers reportedly rebelling against open office plan

#409

Post by poopoopoopoo »

loco5niner wrote: post #405
ChrisLTD wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When I need to buckle down and get some 'serious developing' going on, I just put on some headphones More proof that a noisy "collaborative" environment is not conducive to work that requires deep concentration.

>When I need to buckle down and get some 'serious developing' going on, I just put on some headphones by "serious developing", I'm guessing you mean "actually programming".

There are at least two gears:

1. Code you have worked on before and can extend and maintain in your sleep.

2. Deep spaghetti WTF code that someone else wrote 5 years ago, makes no sense, the code IS the documentation, and you need to extend.

#2 might require some silence.

Post reply on HN