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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

#431

Post by maroonblazer »

techsupporter wrote: post #220
Davertron wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I'll be the exception here. I'm in a psudeo-open workspace right now which is pretty much what you're talking about except that we're not in a room, it's what the company calls a "pod" with high walls and a single doorway. I would say 90% of all distractions etc. come from inside the pod. Moving us into our own room would make no difference. It does get pretty loud sometimes in the building, but it's mostly w…

> For some people the idea of chatting someone who's sitting 5 feet away from them is super weird. This is exactly what happens in my employer's "pod rooms." There are 10 of us and inevitably someone will be all, "Jack; Jack!; HEY, JACK!!" and someone else says "he has his headphones on just send him an IM" and the first person replies "ugh!" and then gets up to walk over and stand at Jack's shoulder until Jack takes…

>It's not just one person that does this or we might could get the behavior to change.

Presuming you're not the only one who's experiencing this it seems like this could be surfaced to the entire team and some norms could be established around when it's appropriate to approach someone. E.g. "If they're wearing headphones then they don't want to be interrupted, so send an email/IM/whatever instead."

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

#433

Post by closeparen »

commandlinefan wrote: post #28
rrauenza wrote: post #4

Isn't increasing workspace density the real reason this is done with collaboration just used as the public rationale?

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.

Amateurs. Everyone knows you are supposed to do productivity surveillance in JIRA EasyBI.

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

#434

Post by pmiller2 »

mlthoughts2018 wrote: post #105
RivieraKid wrote: post #84

For me the problem is not really distractions (I don't care if people interrupt me from time to time, in fact I like it). My problem is the mental strain that stems from lack of privacy, the knowledge that people can see me and my monitor all the time, it's like there's a background process in my mind that checks whether what I want to do (move a lot in my chair, comment on HN, eat something) is ok with people around…

This is very common even when people have no sense of needing to “hide” what’s on their screen... it’s just a natural fight vs flight human impulse to he worried about who is walking around in your space. Even worse for the large fraction of the population who are introverts.

Even worse for people with PTSD than for introverts.

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

#435

Post by BoorishBears »

mirimir wrote: post #357
BoorishBears wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know what, if I'm going to be downvoted for an opinion, it should at least earn it: Too bad open offices are here to stay, if you were worth it you could get an office, maybe invest in some good headphones :)

Well, that's exactly the point, in a way. Sitting in an open-plan office lets you know that you're not "worth it". That you're not respected. And you're way too distracted to actually get much done. So you zone out with music, watch YouTube, hang out on HN, etc. And then, because you're not productive, you're condemned to an open-plan future :(

Every person I work with daily could work at a place with a private office if they wanted.

Hell, I'm pretty sure if they asked seriously for a private office, the company would jump over itself to make it happen.

If you need to do passive aggressive stuff like refuse to work because you're in an open office that's rather unfortunate, a lot of very successful, productive, people work in open offices.

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

#436

Post by cosmodisk »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #428
beart wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that helped me get past this feeling was looking around at other desks and realizing that either a. no one cares what you are doing because they are too busy working on their own stuff or b. half the office is watching youtube anyway.

Also remember that your company likely logs everyone’s web activity in an easily searcheable format.

While this is hardly an unknown fact amongst HN readers, a lot of people get very surprised when told about this.I've seen some of my colleagues going to private mode to browse something not work related, and when I explain that tbis won't help at all, they are almost shocked.

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

#437

Post by nojvek »

Probably has been said before. I think there is a healthy balance of open/closed office hybrid spaces

In closed offices, not everyone can have windows and natural light. Open offices lend better to that.

Hybrid being assigned open desks and bookable/shareable closed rooms of various sizes. One person box to 30 people conference rooms. A quiet room (library). A boom box room with a jukebox.

Honestly I love hybrid with a healthy balance of work 2/5 days from home.

I have set days of meetings and planning “shit” Set days of getting the shit done.

Yin Yang!

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

#438

Post by krn »

ta_4661 wrote: post #282
dualboot wrote: post #137

The other side of this is that a very large percentage of folks in our industry seem to have social anxiety-spectrum issues. Folks without those don't seem to understand how much energy is being burned through just being out in the open and on display for all of your coworkers. It's not something I, personally, have control over. The time I've spent in "open concept" work places, I finish every day frustrated with my…

i've lived with chronic depersonalization and the resultant anxiety which had kept me hamstrung in my one and only job after a couple personal breakthroughs i finally gained the confidence to earn a promotion to my very modest dream role, only to find out a couple months in that we'd be transferring to open plan after the move i almost immediately started experiencing esteem-crumbling health issues caused by the cons…

> eventually i provided enough dirt on file for them to force me to resign, so i'm now unemployed in my 30s with no references i have any confidence in and enough shame and guilt to put me in the ground should my extreme mental fog ever clear again

Have you considered working for a remote-only company, such as GitLab, DuckDuckGo or Buffer? For someone with a chronic depersonalization / derealization disorder a formal work environment should be a non-starter. The constant self-reflection around other people consumes the entire energy and leaves one unable to perform.

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

#439

Post by dkersten »

mikelevins wrote: post #425
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…

The best office I was in as very much like this. It was in the Bubb Road office of Apple's Newton team. Each person had a walled office with a door that closed, a full-length window next to the door, and an exterior window on the building's grounds. The office was just about big enough to fit two people to sit or stand in front of the whiteboard. Each half a dozen or so offices were arranged around common areas with…

That sounds really great! I dream of working in such a place. If my next (or any, really) startup venture is successful, I will strive to create a similar space (but also I strongly believe in remote working as an option, no reason to lock yourself out of amazingly talented people just because they’re out of you geographical proximity)

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

#440

Post by dkersten »

dijit wrote: post #398
oneplane wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 see…

I love this sharing. I'll share mine: +---+--------+------------------------+------------+ | | **** | STORE *** DD DD D DD | DD DD *****| | K | ___ \______*** DD DD DD | DD DD *****| | | DD \ DD D DD | DD DD | | | D D | |___| DD DD DD DDD +---+D DD DD DD | DD DD DD DD| | M | DD DD DD | M |D DD DD | DD DD DD| | | DD DD DD DDD | |D DD DD DD | DD DD DD DD| +-------------------------------------+------------+ D = Desk, M…

Thanks to you both for sharing your setups. I find it really interesting.
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