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The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea

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Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea

#191

Post by collinf »

fblp wrote: post #120
collinf wrote: post #19

My biggest issue with my open floor office is that it seems like everyone just takes calls at their seats. We have private spaces and enclaves for that, but I am just bombarded with 4 people within 10 feet of my workspace on their phone. To counteract I throw on some Ambient music on my headphones, which sort of works but I still find I prefer to work in silence. Does it not seem like open-office etiquette to take a…

ask for some Zenbooths and create rule that calls must be taken in them. It makes the open office workable. www.zenbooth.net (I'm a founder there)

These are pretty cool and we actually have them in our office, I see my current company on your list of companies using them.

Unfortunately, team culture takes precedence over neat tools. It's just a common thing on my team to do take calls at your desk.

Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea

#192

Post by sethrin »

Cyph0n wrote: post #79
ghosterrific wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I've been waiting for years for a bunch of new Anime releases and other shows. Should they just give me a break to watch TV at work?

Not really, because it's probably just you. Quite a few people in this thread really don't understand how big of an event thr World Cup is...

I don't think that's a fair assessment. Quite a few people in this thread do not share the same values that you do, even the more fundamental ones like patriotism.

Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea

#193

Post by reificator »

scrumbledober wrote: post #85
watwut wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is "grab-ass all over the office"? I tried to google it to find whether it is expression, but got tons of porn as result.

I believe he's referring to in office flirting

No, grab-ass is like horseplay. It's unneeded, juvenile physical activities. Think tag, keep-away, or nerf gun fights, things like that.

Uncommon but not rare term where I grew up.

Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea

#194

Post by rimliu »

sotojuan wrote: post #88
geebee wrote: post #87

Here's what I posted three years ago on the topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9760414 Is it time to get depressed yet? This has been a topic for such a long time. It was in peopleware in 1987. I thought I discovered the topic when Joel (On Sofware) wrote about it in 2000. While a few people seem to enjoy open offices, the overwhelming majority of developers I know, or who chime in on HN, value a quiet place…

Reminds me of Dan Luu's take: > This book seemed convincing when I read it in college. It even had all sorts of studies backing up what they said. No deadlines is better than having deadlines. Offices are better than cubicles. Basically all devs I talk to agree with this stuff. > But virtually every successful company is run the opposite way. Even Microsoft is remodeling buildings from individual offices to open plan…

Slavery was kind of a success too.

Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea

#195

Post by rimliu »

athenot wrote: post #77

I think what's a terrible idea is pegging people to specific locations. That used to be necessary to find someone in the office but nowadays we have other tools to discover each other's locations. Instead of binding people to locations, I'd much rather bind activities/moods to locations, e.g. - the studious space: hushed atmosphere like a library, NO TALKING, for people actively working on brain problems - the collab…

For me hotsitting, flex-spacing or whatever you call it just quietly whispers: "you do not belong".

Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea

#197

Post by fsloth »

tombert wrote: post #6

The argument of "increased collaboration" that I keep hearing is kind of negated when people have the soccer game on and you're bombarded with constant cheering, which is my current situation. Even when soccer is over, you have to contend with people playing grab-ass all over the office, or jerks (like me) with annoyingly loud keyboards. The modicum of utility of me "jumping into a conversation" really goes out the w…

The increased collaboration angle is most likely bs.

According to this study open offices do reduce face to face communications: http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/373/1753/2017...

The only two rational factors why anyone would choose open office:

1. the floor space really is so expensive you can waste xx% of capital output of labour.

2. You inherit a dysfunctional organization or just a one you cannot trust, and want to "keep an eye" on everyone so they behave. Michael Bloomberg gave this rationale in New York.

3. Bonus round for hotdesking : You expect/have a fairly high churn rate. Why bother assigning people personal spaces since it's so much work to keep track of the facilities. Let the people find their own space. Besides, you might outsource xx% of your operations in near future so it's not like you plan on investing in long term team building.

So, any linear combination 1,2 or 3 should suffice as an explanation. Any serious publication which praises open offices is likely a piece by a consultant who makes a living out of peddling said solutions and are offering political propaganda to make the employees less resistant.

The most common irrational reason: You don't really have an opinion what consitutes a good working space but open offices seem to be trendy ("It's what the big boys are doing") and a consultant made you an offer to redesign your office space, so, why not.

Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea

#199

Post by ken »

I've come to see the open-plan office like the Golden Path in the Dune novels, even if accidental. Between large technology companies which have tried to expand to do everything, and endless acquisitions and acqui-hires, we were at risk of too much centralization in the tech world.

Open-plan offices are a pain point which serve to drive everyone with a bit of entrepreneurial spirit to start their own company. They're supposed to be oppressive. We're due for a Scattering.

Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea

#200

Post by pitt1980 »

RandallBrown wrote: post #117

To throw some more anecdotes in with the rest of the comments, I love open offices. I've had my own office and found it lonely and boring. I never got less work done than at that job. Everything took longer because I had to stand up and walk to talk to my team. Instant messaging sort of worked, but if they didn't respond immediately, you didn't know if it was because they missed the message or they weren't actually i…

for the sake of adding data points, I prefer not being alone in an office as well

I kind of think being in a group of 4-6 cubicles is pretty ideal

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