Earlier quoted context omitted.
What about cubicles?
I would honestly rather change careers than work in a cubicle. They give me a feeling of deep existential dread. Do some actually prefer them?
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Is the open office layout dead?
121–130 of 373 posts
Re: Is the open office layout dead?
#122Re: Is the open office layout dead?
#123I've never understood the price issue. Class A in midtown Manhattan is $80 per square foot. That's $8,000 per year for a developer that probably makes well over six figures. Put two in an office that's only $4,000 per year.
I really don't buy it considering how much money companies spend on office space. Like why he hell would you have offices in Greenwich Village (http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-new-york-office-tour...) instead of say FiDi. It's not only be much cheaper, but an easier commute to places peopled live, like Brooklyn.
Re: Is the open office layout dead?
#124All this talk reminds me of my father's drunken talk: real estate is the king - if you want to get rich be in real estate.
Sadly... it is true.
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P.S. For readers who are a little slow, the point is that if office space is not a cost center then everybody would have an office.
Re: Is the open office layout dead?
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's because the large tech companies' offices have expensive real estate and just don't have the square footage to give everyone an office. I actually think that in some cases they could pull off micro-offices if they engineered ventilation and virtual windows or something, but basically it comes down to space and without some high-tech micro-offices which is not actually a thing, there is just not enough space. I m…
It can actually be harder to hire people to work in the east bay at union city or fremont than palo alto sometimes. Tesla recently had a problem with it when they were trying to transfer eng offices from PA to fremont for example.
Is the problem hiring people to work in Fremont or is the problem transferring people who already work in Palo Alto to work in Fremont?
Transferring people can often mean their commute time increases 30-40 minutes. That sucks basically regardless of whether you currently have a walking commute or hour long one. And it's not like you usually have an entire team staffed only by east-bay residents: do you split the team into two offices? Force someone to suck it up? Rotate teams through offices? All of these options will basically be traumatic for some portion of your team.
Re: Is the open office layout dead?
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe I read their new campus, the spaceship, is open floor plan.
I've seen this picture from Wired: http://creativebits.org/sites/default/files/applrend7.jpg (source: http://creativebits.org/inside_apples_spaceship_headquarters )
The first photo looks more like a dining room than an office. I can't imagine using a computer while sitting at one of those tables.
Re: Is the open office layout dead?
#127I wish.
I'm currently working on a 1 year old subsidiary that tries very hard to be modern (Spotify organisation, brand new offices…), and as part of that modernity went full Open Plan™.
It's not a full blown boiler room, but we do have zero privacy and a good deal of noise.
Re: Is the open office layout dead?
#128> No designated desks I hate hot desking. I know it's very subjective but when I come into an office for eight hours a day, five days a week, I like to personalise my workspace. I don't drive, I take public transport and walk, and hate carting my laptop and charger around with me. I want my own space, with meeting rooms and collaboration spaces for when I need those things. I may be alone in saying so, but I'd happil…
But a private office is very very expensive. People might think I'm trolling but I honestly think that until "engineer > real estate" there will be no real progress. All this talk about "open space", "hot desks", etc. is because costs of private office space just does not make sense to any CTO or CEO.
Re: Is the open office layout dead?
#129> No designated desks I hate hot desking. I know it's very subjective but when I come into an office for eight hours a day, five days a week, I like to personalise my workspace. I don't drive, I take public transport and walk, and hate carting my laptop and charger around with me. I want my own space, with meeting rooms and collaboration spaces for when I need those things. I may be alone in saying so, but I'd happil…
But a private office is very very expensive. People might think I'm trolling but I honestly think that until "engineer > real estate" there will be no real progress. All this talk about "open space", "hot desks", etc. is because costs of private office space just does not make sense to any CTO or CEO.
This is why cubicles are a thing though right?
Obviously it doesn't have as much in terms of sound dampening effects but the cost nearly isn't as high and there's a psychological effect
Though... cubicles do make it so that you're working in a "pit". So people... start wanting to remove the barriers..... and we end up in open office plans again. Hard to figure out how a smaller company can manage this (since private offices _are_ expensive)
Re: Is the open office layout dead?
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
But a private office is very very expensive. People might think I'm trolling but I honestly think that until "engineer > real estate" there will be no real progress. All this talk about "open space", "hot desks", etc. is because costs of private office space just does not make sense to any CTO or CEO.
This is why cubicles are a thing though right? Obviously it doesn't have as much in terms of sound dampening effects but the cost nearly isn't as high and there's a psychological effect Though... cubicles do make it so that you're working in a "pit". So people... start wanting to remove the barriers..... and we end up in open office plans again. Hard to figure out how a smaller company can manage this (since private…
Back in days, each engineer in Microsoft had a private office. Oracle too... Good days...