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

inc.com

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

#411

Post by bitwize »

cbo100 wrote: post #379
mgolawala wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Standing desks are better for your health anyway.

But you need a desk to stand at first. One company I was at switched to "hot desking" after carefully monitoring the usage rate of desks throughout the building. Come time to do the switch, and unless you are at the office by 7.30-8.00 it's musical chairs and people end up working in the kitchenettes. Turns out they did their desk usage survey during the holiday season. So of course there was tons of spare desks at t…

This sounds like a job for remote work, but I'm guessing this was the sort of shop that expected you to be in the office 4 out of 5 or more days per week.

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

#412

Post by bitwize »

JohnFen wrote: post #166
Velofellow wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people's experiences and what they consider cubicles vary widely. When I started, I had a true cubicle with a standing 'U' shaped desk around the cube perimeter, which could've housed two employees. The cubicles had tall walls (7ft) so there was some actual privacy. those were Cubicle Nirvana, but for density reasons have seen two iterations of smaller, and smaller cubes. 'drive-by' type meetings were easy to…

Ironically, we have collectively forgotten why cubicles were invented, and why office workers originally hailed them as wonderful things: they ended the open office workspaces that were dominant at the time.

Indeed. This was a common office layout through much of the 20th century: https://youtu.be/5cNJNKkCQ2E

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

#414

Post by reificator »

dkersten wrote: post #381
erik_seaberg wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've added that book to my list of possible reads.

I must say I am actually disappointed that it doesn't appear to have been written in an algorithmic fashion.

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

#415

Post by loco5niner »

user00012-ab wrote: post #413

Every open office I've worked in, the decision to have an open layout was made by people that were in offices.

... and remained in offices (whether an official office, or a conference room that became an "unofficial" office)

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

#416

Post by tonfreed »

Always worked in open plan offices, would never work in cubicles. I'd find it soul destroying if I felt like I was alone all day.

The thing that shits me is hotdesking. That there is some bullshit. I worked with a client on site where everything was a hotdesk, I had to fight for the good monitor setups every day and deal with a clean desk policy which meant my notes and shit were always in my locker when I needed them.

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

#417

Post by yellowapple »

From the paper:

> an F2F interaction was recorded when three conditions were met: two or more badges (i) were facing each other (with uninterrupted infrared line-of-sight), (ii) detected alternating speaking, and (iii) were within 10 m of each other.

Condition (i) seems like it'd result in a lot of false negatives in various situations common in open-office environments, e.g. two people talking to each other without actually leaving their desks (especially if they're across from each other, since that'd mean there's likely at least one screen in the way).

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

#418

Post by loco5niner »

deepsun wrote: post #327
anon9001 wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There has to be a better way to aggregate than having this same article (effectively) pop up every other week. I disagree. I think this is actually the best way HN can bring about change, even though the arguments haven't changed in years. IMO the reason these posts get upvoted is out of protest and to raise awareness. HN is probably the most influential source in tech. If every time you look at HN there's threads…

Well, HN votes are (at least designed) not for liking/protesting, but to give feedback that something was interesting and curious.

I am interested in open office discussions.

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

#419

Post by loco5niner »

notduncansmith wrote: post #79

I work in an open office environment. I never thought I’d say this, but it works excellently; there’s always energy in the air, collaboration is easy, and it’s a great space to hold company all-hands meetings. I’d say there are 4 keys to making this work: 1) The founders have a great sense of aesthetic and our office is a beautiful space as a result (also stays very clean), meaning it stays less stressful and promote…

> 2) There are plenty of closed-room office spaces available if you need focus time

This is key.

If I had the flexibility to work in one of these spaces regularly (30+ hours a week), I would be fine. Oh, and each of these rooms has a dual monitor setup with a docking station for my laptop, right?

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

#420

Post by loco5niner »

notduncansmith wrote: post #79

I work in an open office environment. I never thought I’d say this, but it works excellently; there’s always energy in the air, collaboration is easy, and it’s a great space to hold company all-hands meetings. I’d say there are 4 keys to making this work: 1) The founders have a great sense of aesthetic and our office is a beautiful space as a result (also stays very clean), meaning it stays less stressful and promote…

> 4) There is Sonos in both open-office areas and people are pretty good about not hogging it or playing obnoxious/too-loud music

Yikes. that sounds awful for focus-time.

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