If working on complex code that requires Deep Work (Cal Newport) then having a quiet private office/room is a must, otherwise, open office should be okay. Having my own quiet private office, and depending on my current tasks, with option to work on open office should be a great setup.
The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea
221–230 of 461 posts
Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea
#222The 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…
>you have to contend with people playing grab-ass all over the office
???
Do you work at Sterling Cooper Draper?
Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea
#223Companies treat programmers as costs that should be minimized. They manage programmers like children (toys and treats) or stenographers(typing pools) because it is cheap. Whereas, lawyers in law firms are considered revenue generators and they are treated that way. When I switched from programming to lawyering, one of the biggest differences I noticed was how the law firm staff and office manager were always trying t…
Very interesting, as someone who is interested in law and currently an SDE I would love to hear more about your transition. Did you all along plan on this, did it come after your engineering career, at what point did you become an attorney.
For reference, I am 8 years into a software engineering career and heavily considering going to law school.
Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea
#224As much as I dislike the interruptions of an open office, I breathe better walking into an open office instead of a cubicle farm, which are downright depressing. Not to mention trying to find a co-worker - downright impossible unless you peek into each cubicle or you know which one he/she's at beforehand.
Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea
#225Companies treat programmers as costs that should be minimized. They manage programmers like children (toys and treats) or stenographers(typing pools) because it is cheap. Whereas, lawyers in law firms are considered revenue generators and they are treated that way. When I switched from programming to lawyering, one of the biggest differences I noticed was how the law firm staff and office manager were always trying t…
This is also true in the accounting industry. Internal accountants are cost-centers and not viewed as value-add departments, whereas in public accounting each accountant is a revenue-generator. Public accounting pay is generally higher until you reach the manager level of internal accounting, and it is amazing how much more willing the organization was willing to make us happy and more billable. Internally, it seemed like the less management saw of us, the better.
Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea
#226We're moving to an open office soon. I think I'm going to request some VR googles so I can run a VR office app.
I've seriously considered this, but the resolution and software isn't there yet. I've tried looking into simple video glasses without any head tracking and those are really poor too.
Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea
#227> And for what? Because a minority of people kinda like that configuration? Because it’ll look good in a few photos? Because it’ll impress strangers who visit the office? Somehow the author missed the primary reason for the open office configuration: "Because it cuts the costs of office space by a HUGE amount (certainly more than half)." I suppose "Because it makes it easier for managers to keep an eye on their emplo…
Except that when you actually do have individual offices, it's a sunk cost, and the productivity gains easily offset and pay off the initial outlay.
It is only really start ups that cannot afford to do this. Ironically because they have a small number of employees, open plan offices do work for them because they have fewer employees.
Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea
#228Open plan offices have been known to be bad since at least 1987, when the first edition of Peopleware was published. A good portion of the book discusses issues with employee distraction and its inverse relationship to productivity. They use evidence from the field to discuss office layout, and also other issues like office wide paging systems (that used to be a thing!), phone calls, and email.
Have the authors of Peopleware actually run the numbers? If they are such a bad idea, why do open offices proliferate?
It seems to me like the backlash against open offices is a small minority of programmers with autism spectrum disorders and chapped-ass syndrome. Your job is not to have your whims catered to so you can be maximally productive. Your job is to bring value to the company. And that means working well in an open-office environment since that seems to work best for the company.
Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea
#229The 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…
Here's a recent story from our open office. We have a couple of mobprogramming stations with big televisions, each team has 1 or 2 of these so there are about 5 in a 20m radius from where I sit. When the first game that Sweden played all of a sudden 3 of the televisions are turned on and of course they are _not(!)_ in sync. So here I am trying to do some work with three TVs games all slightly delayed from each other,…
cubicles wouldn't have helped in this case anyway, unless you're referring to an office where everyone has their own personal room
Re: The open-plan office is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea
#230--> Few managers have a schedule that allows, or even requires, long hours of uninterrupted time dedicated to a single creative pursuit. As a manager in an open plan office, I will say this is categorically untrue. I have twelve people interupting me constantly, and I need to stay late or start early regularly so that I can get some uninterrupted work time. It also tends to work against self sufficiency. Rather than…
I need to stay late or start early regularly so that I can get some uninterrupted work time
Why? Your employers dysfunctional work environment isn't your problem to fix.