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Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#21

Post by incision »

11001 wrote: post #2

A somewhat related question: I'm about to start a job at a company with "open office" structure, after having my own office for the last 4 years. Anything I should be prepared for? EDIT: Any headphones suggestions?

* On top of the direct impact of interruptions and distractions, you'll want to be aware of the way you are seen to react to them.

Pay attention to who the rest of the office does or doesn't attend to when that person decides to convene a huddle or start soapboxing - regardless of the topic

Dutifully working away under your headphones when a ranking person is looking for attention is a great way to end up labeled in a bad way.

* Don't mistake an open floor plan for an open structure. Be careful about who you accept work from / collaborate with / delegate to until you understand the landscape.

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#22

Post by bunderbunder »

alimoeeny wrote: post #8

I think if you keep different "functions" (engineering, sales, ...) separate, then each can have their own open office without losing productivity. Don't you think so?

I worked at a company that did that. I think there might still have been a productivity loss. All the engineers and programmers got huge studio monitor headphones to shut out the sound of everyone else working. Because of that we all used instant messaging for most our communication even though we were sitting in the same room. We salvaged our productivity by essentially turning ourselves into telecommuters with a commute.

The sales and customer service roles were trying to schedule their calls to minimize the time when two people would be on the phone at the same time, in order to limit background noise.

I don't think the company could have afforded private offices, but I have a hard time believing all of that energy being put into working around the work environment was less expensive than the cost of some high partitions.

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#24

Post by cokernel »

11001 wrote: post #2

A somewhat related question: I'm about to start a job at a company with "open office" structure, after having my own office for the last 4 years. Anything I should be prepared for? EDIT: Any headphones suggestions?

Having used both noise-canceling and noise-isolating headphones, I'd recommend going for noise-isolating headphones, at least if you expect office chatter to be your major irritant. Most active noise-canceling systems do best with constant sounds and not so well with random bursts of speech.

I use Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro headphones and am pretty happy with them. They don't provide complete isolation, but they do block out a lot of sound, and I don't need to play constant music to make up for bad noise cancellation.

For a cheaper solution, wear earplugs and just put on some crappy headphones for the visual signal.

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#25

Post by colinloretz »

11001 wrote: post #2

A somewhat related question: I'm about to start a job at a company with "open office" structure, after having my own office for the last 4 years. Anything I should be prepared for? EDIT: Any headphones suggestions?

Check out the various levels of headphones on The Wirecutter. http://thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/headphones/

I use the Sony MDR-7506 which are rated as the best $150 Over Ear Headphones (actually $90ish on Amazon) and they are very popular with audio pros. Not noise canceling but they are comfortable enough for wearing all day and if you're listening to something, you don't have sound leaking in or out.

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#26

Post by driverdan »

11001 wrote: post #2

A somewhat related question: I'm about to start a job at a company with "open office" structure, after having my own office for the last 4 years. Anything I should be prepared for? EDIT: Any headphones suggestions?

For headphones check out http://www.head-fi.org/

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#27

Post by deeviant »

I really feel that the open office environment really only makes sense for junior programmers. For them, it's great to have a pool of knowledge(experienced programmers) around all the time to push them along, bounce ideas off of, and in general, act as mentors.

I think when you really start getting to the point where you know what needs to get done, and approximately the right way to go about it, open office loses it's luster very quickly.

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#28

Post by icpmacdo »

colinloretz wrote: post #25
11001 wrote: post #2

A somewhat related question: I'm about to start a job at a company with "open office" structure, after having my own office for the last 4 years. Anything I should be prepared for? EDIT: Any headphones suggestions?

Check out the various levels of headphones on The Wirecutter. http://thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/headphones/ I use the Sony MDR-7506 which are rated as the best $150 Over Ear Headphones (actually $90ish on Amazon) and they are very popular with audio pros. Not noise canceling but they are comfortable enough for wearing all day and if you're listening to something, you don't have sound leaking in or out.

I have them also, you might want to look to get some replacement ear pads

http://www.amazon.com/Beyerdynamic-Velour-Earcushions-MDR750...

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#29

Post by bellerocky »

cokernel wrote: post #24
11001 wrote: post #2

A somewhat related question: I'm about to start a job at a company with "open office" structure, after having my own office for the last 4 years. Anything I should be prepared for? EDIT: Any headphones suggestions?

Having used both noise-canceling and noise-isolating headphones, I'd recommend going for noise-isolating headphones, at least if you expect office chatter to be your major irritant. Most active noise-canceling systems do best with constant sounds and not so well with random bursts of speech. I use Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro headphones and am pretty happy with them. They don't provide complete isolation, but they do…

When I worked at a big company with an open office wore ear plugs while also wearing earphones, on really high volume. It was like I had my own office.

Re: Ask HN: What are some Bay Area startups that don't use an open office plan?

#30

Post by parsnips »

deeviant wrote: post #27

I really feel that the open office environment really only makes sense for junior programmers. For them, it's great to have a pool of knowledge(experienced programmers) around all the time to push them along, bounce ideas off of, and in general, act as mentors. I think when you really start getting to the point where you know what needs to get done, and approximately the right way to go about it, open office loses it…

So where do these experienced programmers sit?
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