Hell is a stylish shared office space • Hacker News Board

Re: Hell is a stylish shared office space

#31

Post by FussyZeus » Wed, Dec 20, 2017, 8:02 PM UTC

It seems like every study and every data point is all saying the same thing: with exceptions made for meetings and occasional gatherings when physical proximity actually matters the vast majority of tech workers prefer to telecommute themselves, are more productive when telecommuting, it's obviously cheaper for the company to not rent absurd amounts of space where they can pay employees to be physically present and less productive, etc.

So why exactly are we still having offices at all? Seems like if I were going to start a business today, I'd occasionally rent a meeting room and otherwise not have any real estate actually connected to it, aside from maybe a server room in my home or something. Why are we so obsessed with having physical locations for companies? Is this just a fad that won't die?

Re: Hell is a stylish shared office space

#32

Post by dijit » Wed, Dec 20, 2017, 8:07 PM UTC

smoe wrote: post #30

"Instead [at lunch] you will sit with your own company teammates, so that you can talk freely about your current projects and issues." What seems more hellish to me, is teammates that can't shut up constantly talking about work during breaks. While I see problems with shared office spaces, exchange with or people from sometimes completely different domains during breaks is the biggest plus for me. At least from exper…

I apologise I'm super guilty of this, I don't like small talk and share next to no common interests with colleagues.

What would you prefer?

Re: Hell is a stylish shared office space

#33

Post by tomcooks » Wed, Dec 20, 2017, 8:10 PM UTC

I sympathize with the author, open spaces were invented to function as a hipster panopticon and to maximize landlord gains.

But these rants sound very passive aggressive. Maybe it's a cultural difference which makes it harder for me to understand, but can't you just ask to turn on/off the heating, ask the dog owner not to let their animal invade your space, ask the office owner to alert you about repairs, etc.?

A simple solution i found to this problem is to work at old people cafes, or better yet in a retirement house.

Extra cozy, extra safe, nobody disturbs you, you get free cake/coffee/tea, freelance gigs and the occasional invite to date their daughters

Re: Hell is a stylish shared office space

#34

Post by markbnj » Wed, Dec 20, 2017, 8:29 PM UTC

bootcampjs wrote: post #9

markbnj wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work for a fully-remote company and a number of our engineers choose to work from coworking spaces like WeWork. It's entirely their decision and I guess they miss the atmosphere and social interaction of an office.

And do they rent a private office or a 30-seat conference room with 29 other people already in it?

I don't know for sure but when I have met with them on zoom it sure doesn't seem private.

Re: Hell is a stylish shared office space

#35

Post by OnlyRepliesToBS » Wed, Dec 20, 2017, 8:55 PM UTC

acd wrote: post #14

I think open shared office spaces are an effect of high rents in Sillicon valley and major capital cities. Startups having limited capital rarther spending it on employees salaries getting more head count. Shared space is not effective for concentrating during coding. I doubt shared spaces has been evaluated for effectiveness versus personal office. Shared spaces may be a cause of people working remote.

Notice there are still offices and they are occupied... just by other people. The devs and workers are still just in a big pit.

It's designed FOR people control, not ABSENCE due to capital.

Re: Hell is a stylish shared office space

#36

Post by alphadevx » Wed, Dec 20, 2017, 9:04 PM UTC

tomcooks wrote: post #33

I sympathize with the author, open spaces were invented to function as a hipster panopticon and to maximize landlord gains. But these rants sound very passive aggressive. Maybe it's a cultural difference which makes it harder for me to understand, but can't you just ask to turn on/off the heating, ask the dog owner not to let their animal invade your space, ask the office owner to alert you about repairs, etc.? A sim…

I have complained about some of these issues, but been ignored. I mentioned that in the blog entry. I really don't think it should be my job to roam around the building, asking people to keep the noise down, take their dogs back, stop hammering etc...

* Edit for typo

Re: Hell is a stylish shared office space

#37

Post by alphadevx » Wed, Dec 20, 2017, 9:06 PM UTC

btbuildem wrote: post #12

| Overhead lights that switch off after a certain time if no motion is detected. I have even had this happen to me in the toilets :-) Ah, so you're the guy on his phone in the toilet, occupying a stall for way longer than necessary, while others have to wait. Thanks, buddy.

LOL! No phone involved, I meant to imply that the timer on the lights is set too aggressively.

Re: Hell is a stylish shared office space

#38

Post by ferentchak » Wed, Dec 20, 2017, 9:56 PM UTC

smoe wrote: post #30

"Instead [at lunch] you will sit with your own company teammates, so that you can talk freely about your current projects and issues." What seems more hellish to me, is teammates that can't shut up constantly talking about work during breaks. While I see problems with shared office spaces, exchange with or people from sometimes completely different domains during breaks is the biggest plus for me. At least from exper…

Where were you in Colombia? I have been day dreaming of an extended trip there and would love to know about your experiences.

My email is my username at gmail if that's easier for you.

Thanks in advance

Re: Hell is a stylish shared office space

#39

Post by cwkoss » Wed, Dec 20, 2017, 10:40 PM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #28

acd wrote: post #14

I think open shared office spaces are an effect of high rents in Sillicon valley and major capital cities. Startups having limited capital rarther spending it on employees salaries getting more head count. Shared space is not effective for concentrating during coding. I doubt shared spaces has been evaluated for effectiveness versus personal office. Shared spaces may be a cause of people working remote.

Is there any advantage to a shared space? It seems like the sort of solution where you're working solo anyway, so there's no reason to have the team all there...

For small teams, the ability for people to jump into a conversation which began without them can have value.

If you are a 6-person team, and when two engineers say "Hey, we'll probably need a design for this", the designer can hear this (if not in deep concentration) and join the conversation without any slack messages needed. This sort of 'free triage' has some value, not sure if it's net advantage when accounting for distraction costs though.

Price is probably the clearest advantage: you can fit more people into an office without walls.

Re: Hell is a stylish shared office space

#40

Post by mighty_bander » Thu, Dec 21, 2017, 3:14 AM UTC

diiaann wrote: post #27

We have a "private" office in a WeWork. For me the worst part is the desk itself, it's totally substandard as a task desk. Same with the chairs, people joke about the college analogy but I had better desking as a college student. Secondly, a lot of the interior decisions are questionable, such as the pendant light that casts glare on my monitor. Also the music in the common areas is irritating and I even like some of…

The WeWork environment is a nightmare. Fishtank offices, music they must buy by the MB blasted all over the place... and they charge as much as a nice private office in some corner of a larger business. All to be surrounded by hipsters with two-person marketing firms and no business plan. I assume they're going to help with networking. A basement is an infinitely better workspace.