231–240 of 280 posts
I haven't hear about it for a very long time. Is it still something the team was working on ?
And if yes, does the fact that Brad is leaving going to impact a lot on the development ?
Good luck to Brad. It sounds like the last twelve years of his life were pure Google, it's a big change. > I don't want to get stuck in a comfortable rut. (And Google certainly is comfortable, except for open floor plans.) It's oddly comforting that even programmers of Brad's caliber are forced to cope with open offices. When can this fad end.
> When can this fad end It's not a fad, businesses aren't doing this just because it's trendy and cool and they think people will like it, they're doing it because it saves them a fortune and they care more about their bottom line than their employees well being.
In a world where SV is paying a third of a million dollars to developers, are you really saving money? As a fraction of the cost of your developers this is tiny.
Maybe developers should start Bringing Your Own Cubicle...
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It saves a fortune, but the companies are spending a fortune on their employees' salary and benefits too I think we're talking the difference between $300/month on open desk space vs $1000/month on an office. It's a lot of money and it adds up, but these people are costing the company a total of $10k-$40k a month My theory is that open space is extremely helpful to certain types of people, and those traits coincident…
Sociable upper managerial-types probably value being able to collaborate more easily in open space more than being able to concentrate in private offices. This is not my experience. Most of the upper management at my employer spend their days wandering the halls looking for open "huddle rooms". Or, they just camp out semi-permanently in one of those spaces. They absolutely do not collaborate in public. In fact, they…
This is possibly the only place I've ever worked where they made even a half-assed attempt to maintain the ratio of employees to meeting spaces. And you're right. Post densification, managers are constantly having to schedule meeting hours or days later or settle for two smaller meetings because everything is full. And if you screw up the room reservation, you have to just cancel the meeting because there is nowhere to go.
But a lot of that pain trickles down onto the people doing the work, so I don't think it's fair to look at it as getting what they deserve. It sucks for them, it's debilitating for us, and we always have to make it up by cutting corners or working later.
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It saves a fortune, but the companies are spending a fortune on their employees' salary and benefits too I think we're talking the difference between $300/month on open desk space vs $1000/month on an office. It's a lot of money and it adds up, but these people are costing the company a total of $10k-$40k a month My theory is that open space is extremely helpful to certain types of people, and those traits coincident…
> Sociable upper managerial-types probably value being able to collaborate more easily in open space more than being able to concentrate in private offices. This is the opposite of my experience. One thing that shocked me about a move to an open plan office after a life with offices was how stifling to discussion. It's so disruptive to have a conversation at someone's workspace, that to discuss anything nontrivial (o…
Some people are much better at thinking on their feet and out loud (I'm one of them). Ideas are fragile, and if you're trying to verbalize, for the first time, why something bugs you or how you think you fix a problem, and there's a bunch of fast-talkers around you they're going to kill your idea before they even get a chance.
I used to meet with these people privately, sort out what really bugged them, poke at their idea and come up with a compromise they'd still accept, then I'd go into meetings and try to out-talk the other fast-talkers.
Now you get one shot a day to do that, maybe, if we're both going out to lunch, going together, and don't bring the wrong people along.
I've worried sometimes that my soft skills were a little lacking. But I'm finding over time that my soft skills were actually pretty great, they just needed doors.
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It saves a fortune, but the companies are spending a fortune on their employees' salary and benefits too I think we're talking the difference between $300/month on open desk space vs $1000/month on an office. It's a lot of money and it adds up, but these people are costing the company a total of $10k-$40k a month My theory is that open space is extremely helpful to certain types of people, and those traits coincident…
Even sharing an office with 2-4 people isn't that bad compared to open floor. You get used to each other's quirks pretty fast and keep the door closed when serious work is going on... it doesn't have to be solo offices for every person which would dramatically increase costs.
As cube size goes up, eventually there's enough space for three people in a two person cube, or two people in a one person cube. You want exactly enough space for someone to be able to bring a chair and comfortably look over your shoulder, and not one iota more.
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It saves a fortune, but the companies are spending a fortune on their employees' salary and benefits too I think we're talking the difference between $300/month on open desk space vs $1000/month on an office. It's a lot of money and it adds up, but these people are costing the company a total of $10k-$40k a month My theory is that open space is extremely helpful to certain types of people, and those traits coincident…
I would also guess that kind of hip architectural firms that get hired to design the offices of giant successful tech firms are 10-20 person companies who may have equally open offices but don't have the visceral understanding of the differences between an open 20-person office and an open 1000-person office.
At any point in time, you can count on one chatty person to either not engage, or to disengage once they have.
Then everyone brings headphones and it's harder to ask people questions than being in cubicles.
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No, it's not. Capital expenditures are reported differently and held to different standards and strategies.
But if you have a million in funding, then who does it matter to if you spend it on infrastructure or operational expenses? You're still burning the same amount of cash.
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If you have diagnosed ADHD and are forced to work in an extremely distracting environment like an open floor plan then talk to your manager and HR about getting an accommodation. They will work with you to find some reasonable way to limit the distraction based on the particulars of your workplace.
Alternately, they'll make no accommodations. The developer's productivity keeps falling. Eventually he's put on a PIP (performance improvement plan) and finally once it runs its course, they'll have a legal way to just kick him out.
For anyone reading this: if you ever find yourself placed in a "PIP", leave. That's like being inside a black hole's event horizon, you'll never come back.
Thanks for all the things you did. The Android jank stuff made a big impression on me--you made the value so clear with your work. And also thanks for the rants when something wasn't up to par. I'm thinking about https://bgr.com/2015/02/18/google-nest-smoke-alarm-video/ , which has only grown more hilarious to me over time.
P.S. If you're looking for some interesting chaos to revitalize your life, have you considered doing a tour of public service? :)