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Open-plan offices make employees less productive, less happy, and more sick

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Re: Open-plan offices make employees less productive, less happy, and more sick

#191

Post by notatoad »

31reasons wrote: post #93

Why do we need offices ? office-less is the new paper-less! with tools like google hangout and google glasses, it makes less and less sense everyday. Why come to the same physical space everyday and stare at the computer screens to do the work you can do from anywhere. Offices were invented to reduce the transaction cost of communication between employees, which was true 20 years ago but not anymore. I guess we have…

I like my office. It's a place I go to do work. I love my job, but I also love to get away from my job, completely, when I step out the door of my office.

I've tried the work-from-anywhere thing and it sucks. It really just turns into work-all-the-time for me.

Re: Open-plan offices make employees less productive, less happy, and more sick

#192

Post by 31reasons »

notatoad wrote: post #191
31reasons wrote: post #93

Why do we need offices ? office-less is the new paper-less! with tools like google hangout and google glasses, it makes less and less sense everyday. Why come to the same physical space everyday and stare at the computer screens to do the work you can do from anywhere. Offices were invented to reduce the transaction cost of communication between employees, which was true 20 years ago but not anymore. I guess we have…

I like my office. It's a place I go to do work. I love my job, but I also love to get away from my job, completely, when I step out the door of my office. I've tried the work-from-anywhere thing and it sucks. It really just turns into work-all-the-time for me.

Its okay to like office and work there just don't force or enforce your co-workers and employees to do the same by assuming that they love their offices as much as you do. For example, May be you are that loud or annoying co-worker or extrovert who keep interrupting them from their work.

Re: Open-plan offices make employees less productive, less happy, and more sick

#193

Post by monkeynotes »

mindcrime wrote: post #151
monkeynotes wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When working on a project that needs to be extremely reactive and accomodate functionality at short notice often requires quick, on target communication. If my coworkers aren't able to communicate quickly, and efficiently with myself and the other team members then the project will lose agility. Often we will have tasks that require not being disturbed and in the stand up meetings we flag this.

I'm sorry, but that is a weak excuse. It is not necessary to have everybody sitting in one big open room, in an environment where anybody can interrupt anybody (or everybody) at the drop of a hat, to be agile. I would also argue that if your project is being that reactive that it should be considered an anti-pattern, and that you should examine ways to make things less chaotic (erm, I mean, "agile").

Just because anyone can interrupt doesn't mean this happens all the time. People are pretty considerate, and if you need to concentrate you'll be left alone.

As for 'anti-pattern' I'd say that describes our set up rather well. And yes, changes need to be made to make the work more predictable but until someone cracks that nut the boots on the ground definitely benefit from sitting together and being able to turn to talk.

Re: Open-plan offices make employees less productive, less happy, and more sick

#194

Post by btgeekboy »

ghotli wrote: post #31
endianswap wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to sound like I'm trivializing your disorder, but have you tried a good pair of closed-ear headphones? I sit in a room of 40 or 50 chatty computer folks, and everything is silent when I put on my Sennheiser headphones. It lets be effectively choose whether or not I want to be distracted by sound, which I do sometimes (hearing conversations I want to be a part of it quite important to me).

http://www.amazon.com/Shure-SE210-Sound-Isolating-Earphone/d... Those effectively eliminate auditory ADD in an open environment. Nothing has been more effective than these for me.

I used to love these things. But, be forewarned - I found them to be incredibly fragile. I'm not abusive with them or anything, but during the 2 year warranty, I received 3 brand new sets. Each time, one ear would become louder, despite my own ears being clean and the headphones themselves being clear of earwax as well.

Re: Open-plan offices make employees less productive, less happy, and more sick

#195

Post by mixmastamyk »

usea wrote: post #45
digisign wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious, do you get much sun? Vitamin D definciency commonly results in sickly people too.

You don't need much. National Institutes of Health recommends 5-30 minutes of daytime exposure, twice a week. [1] http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional...

Yes, we need several minutes of strong (near noon-time) sun across a significant portion of the body. More if you don't drink fortified milk. Winter and old age increase the need.

These days it is common for people to avoid the sun and use excessive sunscreen if they do; geeks are not known for their tans. But a few minutes sunbathing is definitely beneficial.

The govt is a tad behind on this, but it has recently upped the recommendations.

Re: Open-plan offices make employees less productive, less happy, and more sick

#196

Post by monkeynotes »

snuxoll wrote: post #147
monkeynotes wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When working on a project that needs to be extremely reactive and accomodate functionality at short notice often requires quick, on target communication. If my coworkers aren't able to communicate quickly, and efficiently with myself and the other team members then the project will lose agility. Often we will have tasks that require not being disturbed and in the stand up meetings we flag this.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the POINT of "agile" (seeing as you just used the word) software development to both increase communication AND eliminate distractions by keeping a single line of communication open between the product owner and the development team so things can be filtered out and brought up at appropriate times? If you need immediate communication, there are other far less distracting methods, su…

As defined by Wikipedia agile favours amongst other things;

* responding to change over following a plan * individuals and interactions over processes and tools * working software over comprehensive documentation * face-to-face conversation * co-location and pair programming

And also...

"Agile methods emphasize face-to-face communication over written documents when the team is all in the same location. Most agile teams work in a single open office (called a bullpen), which facilitates such communication. Team size is typically small (5-9 people) to simplify team communication and team collaboration."

I could go on. Almost everything in agile is about flexibility and that's exactly what we need in our team and exactly what being able to sit close together without cube walls enables.

Agile certainly is not about single lines of communication, it's almos the complete oposite of that. Agile doesn't have 'appropriate times' since unknowns must be accommodated as and when. Being agile is about iteration, firing and then aiming, talking to each other, collaborating, and getting it done.

And as I said before, if individuals need uninterrupted time to get their work done this of course is accommodated. We're not school children, we know how to behave.

IM and email are all ok communication tools, but they are inefficient compared to a quick conversation - especially if you need to look at a visual front end bug on your colleague's screen in order to understand what the problem is.

Re: Open-plan offices make employees less productive, less happy, and more sick

#197

Post by INTPenis »

mcphilip wrote: post #14

I really struggle to get in the 'zone' where I can do the creative aspects of software engineering (e.g. researching graph databases like neo4j and determining if our startup can benefit from it) when I'm in an open environment. I have been diagnosed with ADD for the past 8 years, but am working towards a medication free approach to dealing with it. Open spaces really hurt my productivity because my mind naturally tr…

I think we're all a concoction of symptons due to modern psychiatry, so I've never really diagnosed myself. I do however have the exact same issue as you, I can't focus if there are things going on around me.

My cure so far has been raining.fm and big insulating headphones. But it's not ideal, my ideal environment is alone in silence.

Re: Open-plan offices make employees less productive, less happy, and more sick

#199

Post by vpeters25 »

altero wrote: post #124

Thanks to open-plan office I developed anxiety, high-blood pressure and stress. I could not concentrate in the office and I had to finish most of my work at home over evenings. I nearly divorced thanks to open-plan office. I already quit 3 long term jobs a few weeks after company moved to open-plan. At end I just had to start my own business. Now I am single-handily competing with multi-billion companies (and I dare…

As an Agile evangelist I thought open-plan was the way to go but now I realize collaboration tools such as IM, Campfire, Hipchat, etc can provide such social benefits while allowing the developer to isolate themselves and focus when needed.

I personally can work in any kind of environment, but I prefer it quiet. Headphones help when in open-plan places but I noticed it takes me longer to get focused in such places. I now reject job offers were I would get anything less than a private cubicle.

Re: Open-plan offices make employees less productive, less happy, and more sick

#200

Post by lifeisstillgood »

keithpeter wrote: post #95
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #37

Water wet, sky blue, Pope Catholic, Bear excrement in forested areas Knowledge workers of the past who have had money and power work in quiet campus colleges or oasis of calm like Londons Lincoln's Inn or Temple. No power or influence - and work in chicken farms. There is an advantage - for companies willing to put in the effort to make a sane work environment, to grow and support honesty and team support - well it's…

"Knowledge workers of the past who have had money and power work in quiet campus colleges or oasis of calm like London's Lincoln's Inn or Temple." The average Oxford JCR isn't that calm, and both the Inns of Court support people who are performing in the open shout mosh pit that was the Georgian courtroom. I take your well-made point, but somehow we need to balance calm reflection with connection.

That kind of seems to be my point - raucous connection is great fun, as long as there is some area one controls to retreat to and capitalise on the connections made, and prepare.

Pixar has an open central area I believe (where the toilets are) deliberately to encourage people to connect when they leave their offices (where they can concentrate)

Campuses almost always have a central coffee / open area where "everyone meets up". All the Inns of court that I remember we're built around grassy courtyards, all encouraging an easy mixing without compromising office work

It is is suspect the real advantage of yammer or those web-IRC 37signal things - there is a "room" to go to that is social more than work.

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