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Open-plan offices decrease face-to-face collaboration: study

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Re: Open-plan offices decrease face-to-face collaboration: study

#381

Post by dkersten »

erik_seaberg wrote: post #373
dkersten wrote: post #156

The best office I've experienced (but sadly only visited for two week, the branch I worked at had typical open plan garbage) had the building split into sections where along both sides were small single-person offices (large enough that two people could sit at a desk and work, or 3 to 4 people could sit for a meeting) with closing sliding doors. In the space between the two rows of offices was a small amount of hot-d…

That looks so much like https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Workshop_desi... that I kinda want potential employers to start publishing their office designs as Dwarf Fortress saves.

Hah, thanks for that! :D That would be fun, alright.

Completely off topic, I just got Tarn Adams' latest book (procedural storytelling) today. I'm looking forward to reading it when I get time.

Re: Open-plan offices decrease face-to-face collaboration: study

#382

Post by eftychis »

bjornjajajaja wrote: post #259
mumblemumble wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't find it anymore, but I could swear there was a study that recently hit the HN front page that found that everyone's productivity objectively takes a hit in a distracting environment. But, subjectively, extraverts perceive themselves as being more productive, while introverts don't.

Yup it’s been proven that libraries are good places to get work done not cafeterias. They really should have collaborative AND personal spaces. Not a forced airport-like office setup. What were they smoking when they designed those?

This is driven with money-saving in mind -- at least short term. Consider it is easier to lease space as a landlord if it is open space floorplan, and it is easier to deal with a 1-2 year temporary space as a startup, than actually pay to modify it.

Re: Open-plan offices decrease face-to-face collaboration: study

#383

Post by beckingz »

erik_seaberg wrote: post #373
dkersten wrote: post #156

The best office I've experienced (but sadly only visited for two week, the branch I worked at had typical open plan garbage) had the building split into sections where along both sides were small single-person offices (large enough that two people could sit at a desk and work, or 3 to 4 people could sit for a meeting) with closing sliding doors. In the space between the two rows of offices was a small amount of hot-d…

That looks so much like https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Workshop_desi... that I kinda want potential employers to start publishing their office designs as Dwarf Fortress saves.

This would be great!

Maybe a floorplan to ascii converter is needed.

Re: Open-plan offices decrease face-to-face collaboration: study

#384

Post by loco5niner »

monkin wrote: post #362

It's interesting to see how studies like that change over time. I remember many from early 2000 saying that open-space are mind-changing and better for productivity. Few examples: http://www.luchetti.com/links/cwe_neocon.pdf , https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/pages/0902cov... or https://www.apa.org/monitor/may02/cubicle I never cared about office design, until only I can see my screen. Just hate when pe…

It doesn't seem like those studies say that...

Here are quotes from all 3 links.

> Becker concedes that no office environment is perfect. In open offices, for example, there will still be those who irritate peers by bellowing into the phone. Wireless phones may be one solution to such problems, he says, but a more ideal one is giving workers a choice of work environments to fit the demands of different tasks--what he calls the "cafeteria-style office."

> The three most often reported workplace qualities that have the greatest effect on individual and team performance, as well as job satisfaction, were ranked as follows: 1. Ability To Do Distraction-Free Solo Work 2. Support for Impromptu Interactions 3. Support for Meetings and Undistracted Groupwork

> ...he’s identified the 10 most important predictors of job performance. The top two are: The ability to do distraction-free work for teams and individuals. The ability to have easy, frequent, informal interactions.

> For Brill, the equation is simple: Workers spend the majority of their time in private or near-private activity. As a result, he advocates giving each person a private office, no matter how small.

Re: Open-plan offices decrease face-to-face collaboration: study

#385

Post by whalabi »

cmroanirgo wrote: post #311
im3w1l wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, a little noise is the worst. A busy cafe with a constant level of noise is easy for me to tune out. If everyone is silent but like every 30s something happens: Someone coughs, a bag of snacks is rustled, a cardboard strap is opened. That's the worst.

Agreed. I'm fine when the general level of noise is way up, because there's less for the brain to latch onto and get distracted by. I've churned out serious lines of code in a noisy cafe, but always churn out more when I'm at home: my noises, no distractions. It's the human interaction though that drags me away from the work-from-home/work-in-a-cubicle lifestyle. I find even quiet conversations in an open environment…

This makes me wonder if the core of the problem is the lack of control over your own environment somehow

Re: Open-plan offices decrease face-to-face collaboration: study

#387

Post by whalabi »

fernandotakai wrote: post #75
commandlinefan wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Constant surveillance is another part of the real reason with collaboration used as the public rationale. I mean, it doesn't make sense, but it makes them feel more like slave-owners, and that makes them happy.

>Constant surveillance is another part of the real reason with collaboration used as the public rationale when i worked on an open plan office, that was huge. it seems like my boss' favorite hobby was checking everyone's screen to see what they were doing. once, i was watching a yt video on a monitor while i worked on the other. normal right? nope. my boss came to my "desk" and said i had to shut it down because it w…

Definitely a quittable offence

Re: Open-plan offices decrease face-to-face collaboration: study

#388

Post by devmunchies »

cmsonger wrote: post #376

For the first time in a VERY long career, I joined Google a few years ago, which is an open office company. The thing I noticed in the first week: Everyone avoided eye contact all the time. The thing I noted after six months: I'd learned to avoid eye contact at all times. So I'm kind of not surprised. It was counter intuitive to me that open office was less social; but personal experience suggests that open office is…

I've been working remote and i don't remember this. Is it because you don't want people to talk to you? Kind of like avoiding eye contact with someone who is going to ask you for money?

Re: Open-plan offices decrease face-to-face collaboration: study

#389

Post by oneplane »

dkersten wrote: post #156

The best office I've experienced (but sadly only visited for two week, the branch I worked at had typical open plan garbage) had the building split into sections where along both sides were small single-person offices (large enough that two people could sit at a desk and work, or 3 to 4 people could sit for a meeting) with closing sliding doors. In the space between the two rows of offices was a small amount of hot-d…

I'm currently at an office where some of it is arranged that way but some others are perhaps more hybrid into open-office arrangements that will works pretty well:

   +------------+-----------+
           D  D |  DD DD DD |
                   DD DD DD |
         WWWWWWWW        DD |
                W  BBBB     |
         W      W  BBBB     |
         W      W        DD |
         W      W   DD   DD |
         W      W   DD   DD |
   +------------------------+
The open end is towards 'the rest' of the office, the W are walls, the B is a block that makes the rest seem like a somewhat divided area and dampens sound, has benches and TVs and whiteboards. The D's are desks, they are farther apart but it's a pain to draw them better. You generally find the same people at generally the same desk, but they can shift around as day-to-day partnering differs or if people want to sit together for other reasons. It feels much more like a 'larger' private office than an open plan office because there is plenty of blocking yet you can move freely and sit freely where it happens to makes the most sense at any given time. Silence and concentration? Most likely to happen in the bottom left desk block, want interaction and many ideas? Sit somewhere top middle. Want to have two different teams working together? 12 people can fit at the right side of the drawing, top to bottom. Yes there is a gap, but that helps give you plenty of air, carpet sound damping and room to walk around while you think. And when you do need a meeting room with projector and bean bags etc, the W-enclosed room is exactly that. The two single D-desks are mostly for people that need to sit close to us for a day or two and just want a bit of desk space. Right edge is a wall, top and bottom are windows all the way left and right.

I think that it's not as much the 'best' plan, or planned to work this way, but with the people that sit there (which is always the same ~20 people in different configurations) and a small amount of 'togetherness' as a team, you don't really have any of the 'open office' annoyances while still having a lot of the working-together benefits. Without the small B-block in the middle or the large W-room it probably wouldn't work.

Re: Open-plan offices decrease face-to-face collaboration: study

#390

Post by devmunchies »

erikbye wrote: post #333

My biggest gripes with open-plan offices (aside from the usual productivity cost): - Listening to coworkers' lengthy private calls. - You can't talk in confidence with any of your coworkers, so the only talks you have, the only things you say, are what you are OK with everyone nearby hearing. It hurts possible relationships/bonding (probably a positive for management), but it also hurts professional growth. - When we…

>You can't talk in confidence with any of your coworkers, so the only talks you have, the only things you say, are what you are OK with everyone nearby hearing. It hurts possible relationships/bonding.

very insightful. makes perfect sense. Even a mild joke might offend someone so you subconsciously decide to not say it in public, which definitely prevents bonding.

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