> Why do need/want ?
I'm starting to consider these sorts of low-effort, divisive titles as click bait these days.
Why do programmers need private offices with doors?
21–30 of 593 posts
Re: Why do programmers need private offices with doors?
#22The article oversimplifies things a little, IMHO.
It's not the open floor plan office that's the main cause of the problem for DnD type work, nor are offices with doors a general solution.
It's all about policy. A separate office with a door doesn't do you any good if every ten minutes someone drops by to knock on it. A private office also doesn't help if you're constantly bombarded with "urgent" messages from various people and are expected to instantly reply.
Most of the issues can be solved by simply implementing reasonable policies. Can't deal with the noise of an open plan office? Provide ANC headphones. Need time to focus? Define binding "focus hours" each day during which no meetings are scheduled, no messages are sent, and people are left alone. Keep the inevitable exceptions to an absolute minimum.
In addition to that, it also helps to have separated spaces (e.g. meeting rooms) available that can be booked for DnD sessions if the need arises.
Re: Why do programmers need private offices with doors?
#23Some do, not all do. I do much better in a room with ~6 people that are working on the same project. Much better than working at home. Much better than a private office (which I've had). Having people around me working on the same project is invaluable for me for * asking quick questions and getting an instant answer. vs chat where I may not get an answer for hours. * running ideas by others. This doesn't happen on c…
> asking quick questions and getting an instant answer. vs chat where I may not get an answer for hours.
All your other points are fine. People are motivated by a mix of external and internal triggers, and you are clearly skewed to the external side.
The thing I quoted is however why anyone geared towards the internal side of things will HATE to have to go to the office while you are there.
Programming requires deliberate thought gathered slowly into a complex matrix in your head before it finds its way to the pc through your keyboard.
Even though I am an extrovert through and through and strongly identify with the motivational aspects of being in an office, me not giving you an answer until an hour has gone probably means more overall productivity for the project than your instant unblocking at the office.
Re: Why do programmers need private offices with doors?
#24Although I am sympathetic overall, it really isn't about programmers, it's about anyone doing mental-flow work with focus. Open plan is for a different state of mind and product. It can be condusive to some good outcomes, but the cost is the loss of flow. Writers need flow. People studying need flow. I could imagine techs looking at breast cancer scans need flow. It isn't only programmers who need this.
In the same vein, an office with a door won't help at all if you have higher-ups who expects instant responses to any messaging/e-mail query every five minutes.
Agreed. Even back when I had my own single office I got interrupts all the time. And I need flow when programming. Every interrupt cleared the cache and I had to spend time building it up again.
I used to work from another time zone for a few years. That was highly efficient. The first half of the working day there were no interrupts and I could go into the flow and be productive. The second half, or more like the last three hours I would have video meetings and back-and-forth emails etc. and just doing "normal" slow programming - not the type needing concentration and flow. People emailing me about stuff would do so when I was sleeping, and when I started working I could start by going through that, plan, start working, and have it ready for them when they got up and began working. It was ideal, in many ways (except that I couldn't physically drop by the office whenever I wanted).
Re: Why do programmers need private offices with doors?
#25Some do, not all do. I do much better in a room with ~6 people that are working on the same project. Much better than working at home. Much better than a private office (which I've had). Having people around me working on the same project is invaluable for me for * asking quick questions and getting an instant answer. vs chat where I may not get an answer for hours. * running ideas by others. This doesn't happen on c…
All of that is fine, the problem is that most places with shared space will have people not working on the same project in that room. Instead everybody is working on different projects, and they may be in Teams meetings and talking and talking about things with zero interest for you, and that can't possibly be productive. Even worse if you're in an office with one guy constantly on the 'phone on customer support or w…
How about when they put the software team right next to the sales team?
This is exactly the problem with open-plan offices: they always do really stupid stuff like this, putting mostly-quiet teams very close to very talkative and noisy teams, with no barrier between them. Then everyone wants to work from home where at least they won't be tormented by listening to the obnoxious sales guy yap on the phone all day and can have their pet keep them company.
Re: Why do programmers need private offices with doors?
#26In my whole professional life (last 15y) there was not a single time where I had anything resembling a private space where I could just close the door and work in peace. The norm here in German startup world seem to be open floors. And if you do have rooms they get crammed full of people. It's not the end of the world though. A room full of engineers is tolerable, and if they're on your team this is even desirable. T…
> A room full of engineers is tolerable, and if they're on your team this is even desirable. Until one of the engineers who has no social awareness decides to eat at their desk instead of taking lunch elsewhere, or you just need some silent time and there's just no option for it. I'm very reluctantly pursuing on-site or hybrid positions as a last ditch (desperate) effort to find some work, and I'm not the slightest b…
>Until one of the engineers who has no social awareness decides to eat at their desk instead of taking lunch elsewhere
Maybe he's aware, and just doesn't care because the company has already made him miserable by 1) not having an "elsewhere" to take that lunch, and 2) putting his desk right next to the sales team.
Re: Why do programmers need private offices with doors?
#27The article oversimplifies things a little, IMHO. It's not the open floor plan office that's the main cause of the problem for DnD type work, nor are offices with doors a general solution. It's all about policy. A separate office with a door doesn't do you any good if every ten minutes someone drops by to knock on it. A private office also doesn't help if you're constantly bombarded with "urgent" messages from variou…
I always see noise cancelling headphones put forward as a solution to noisy office environments . . . I don't want to wear headphones. I don't want to be cut off in my own bubble. I want to be connected to my environment, and I want it to be a nice place to get my work done.
Re: Why do programmers need private offices with doors?
#28But, why offices at all? All my productivity problems are solved by just working from home.
This. I'm about to build a dev team next year, and my co-founder is kinda disappointed that I want them all completely remote. He's the old-school "let's have a big office where we can all get together" and I'm "let's not and say we did".
I can see way down the line there'll be a problem with Engineering vs The Rest because we'll be remote and they'll be in an office. But tbh there is always a problem with Engineering vs The Rest regardless.
I want my devs to be able to switch Slack off, not answer emails, go for a walk in the park, and stare at the ceiling for hours while properly thinking about what they're building. Too much code is written in haste.
Re: Why do programmers need private offices with doors?
#29Some do, not all do. I do much better in a room with ~6 people that are working on the same project. Much better than working at home. Much better than a private office (which I've had). Having people around me working on the same project is invaluable for me for * asking quick questions and getting an instant answer. vs chat where I may not get an answer for hours. * running ideas by others. This doesn't happen on c…
I agree. If I have a personal office I might as well sit at home.
I hate open office space as much as the next person, but small team rooms are great. Can have the walls plastered with post-its, screens, drawing boards etc. If I hear two coworkers discuss something, I can chip in if relevant. Information flow just happens by itself.
Re: Why do programmers need private offices with doors?
#30The article oversimplifies things a little, IMHO. It's not the open floor plan office that's the main cause of the problem for DnD type work, nor are offices with doors a general solution. It's all about policy. A separate office with a door doesn't do you any good if every ten minutes someone drops by to knock on it. A private office also doesn't help if you're constantly bombarded with "urgent" messages from variou…
DnD? I can't not read Dungeons and Dragons. Debug and develop?