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The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal

mattblodgett.com

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Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal

#51

Post by organsnyder »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #39
bitwarrior wrote: post #5

As someone with the authority to make the necessary changes to our office environment, it frustrates me to read these kind of blog posts. I have read a couple dozen similar posts which merely complain about open offices, but offer absolutely nothing in the way of practical solutions. We don't have the opportunity or space to give everyone their own dedicated office, and cubicles I'm sure would be a living hell. I've…

My practical solution is a nice pair of noise-canceling headphones. I don't know what your office culture is like, but at ours it's 100% acceptable for the developers to wear headphones at pretty much any point when we're at our desks.

I have a really nice set of Sennheiser headphones. They don't have active noise canceling, but the physical insulation they provide is good enough to drown out most noise, even without any music playing.

Though I rarely play music very loud (I'm a musician, and very protective of my hearing), I still find the headphones to be tiring to wear for hours at a time. I've found this to be true even when I'm not playing any music at all. It seems to be something about the air pressure, or perhaps not being able to hear any background noise at all, that makes them tiring to use.

Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal

#52

Post by tbrownaw »

hapless wrote: post #7
bitwarrior wrote: post #5

As someone with the authority to make the necessary changes to our office environment, it frustrates me to read these kind of blog posts. I have read a couple dozen similar posts which merely complain about open offices, but offer absolutely nothing in the way of practical solutions. We don't have the opportunity or space to give everyone their own dedicated office, and cubicles I'm sure would be a living hell. I've…

The practical solution is to spend more money . That means high-wall cubicles (6'-8') or private offices. Those have been the known solutions for forty years. I doubt other solutions exist. Yes, this will cost more. No, there isn't a shortcut.

As much as I think I'd like my cubicle to be tall enough to have a standing-height monitor (so, ~6'), I also have heard it's important to have line-of-sight to something "far" as in 20 feet or more away, and suspect that too-tall walls would also make it too dark.

Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal

#53

Post by jstalin »

gklitt wrote: post #38

Every time this debate pops up on HN, I find this quote from Bell Labs scientist Richard Hamming interesting to consider: I noticed the following facts about people who work with the door open or the door closed. I notice that if you have the door to your office closed, you get more work done today and tomorrow, and you are more productive than most. But 10 years later somehow you don't know quite know what problems…

This isn't a binary choice between an open office plan and everyone with closed office doors.

Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal

#54

Post by jccc »

gklitt wrote: post #38

Every time this debate pops up on HN, I find this quote from Bell Labs scientist Richard Hamming interesting to consider: I noticed the following facts about people who work with the door open or the door closed. I notice that if you have the door to your office closed, you get more work done today and tomorrow, and you are more productive than most. But 10 years later somehow you don't know quite know what problems…

This is quite obviously a metaphor. He's talking about lone wolves without the habit of seeking collaboration. From the same source further down, regarding brainstorming:

There were a group of other people I used to talk with. For example there was Ed Gilbert; I used to go down to his office regularly and ask him questions and listen and come back stimulated. [...] Yes, I find it necessary to talk to people. I think people with closed doors fail to do this so they fail to get their ideas sharpened, such as ``Did you ever notice something over here?'' I never knew anything about it - I can go over and look. Somebody points the way. On my visit here, I have already found several books that I must read when I get home. I talk to people and ask questions when I think they can answer me and give me clues that I do not know about. I go out and look!

And he's speaking from a time before ubiquitous email and online chat.

Do you really imagine that the solitude-seekers' problem is that they want to avoid collaboration? Do you imagine that forcing them into the mind-blender type of office eight hours every day of the week is necessary because we need to make them collaborate more, to make sure they know the right things to work on?

Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal

#55

Post by pavel_lishin »

falcolas wrote: post #50
pavel_lishin wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My practical solution is a nice pair of noise-canceling headphones. I don't know what your office culture is like, but at ours it's 100% acceptable for the developers to wear headphones at pretty much any point when we're at our desks.

The article, and the linked comments, indicate why headphones are not a universal solution.

They aren't, but they're definitely a within-personal-budget stopgap solution. If my only options are headphones vs. hearing the VP sitting next to me making sales calls all day, I'll opt for the headphones.

Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal

#56

Post by msluyter »

bitwarrior wrote: post #5

As someone with the authority to make the necessary changes to our office environment, it frustrates me to read these kind of blog posts. I have read a couple dozen similar posts which merely complain about open offices, but offer absolutely nothing in the way of practical solutions. We don't have the opportunity or space to give everyone their own dedicated office, and cubicles I'm sure would be a living hell. I've…

I've thought a lot about this.

1. Noise -- ironically, I can concentrate in a loud coffee shop much better than in the open office, because the sounds of the former blend into a general din, while in the latter, various conversations grab my attention. There seems to be a desire to eliminate noise with barriers or whatnot, but I wonder whether that simply exacerbates the problem by making the conversation next to you that much clearer.

So perhaps one counterintuitive suggestion is to make it _louder_. Pipe in music, get an espresso machine and a cash register... ;) (I'm half joking here, but I'd be curious to actually try this). Some have suggested white noise -- I have a DOHM machine at home that's great: http://www.amazon.com/Marpac-DOHM-DS-Natural-actual-Machine/... -- not sure how it'd work in an office, but might be worth an experiment.

2. Free standing walls or movable screens might not block all noise, but still may be worth a look -- I think they may give people a bit more sense of privacy and help reduce visual distractions.

3. Breakout areas -- separate those needing to discuss things from the rest, or vice versa. Having options is nice.

4. Culture -- you can foster a culture that respects people's need for concentration. Favor async communication (email) over direct interruption when possible. Requires some discipline, but is possible.

Finally, what I've found most frustrating is the feeling that despite years of complaints about open offices, nothing has changed and nobody seems to care. Even if items above are only partial solutions or placebos, they might at least give the impression that someone cares and is trying to help. That, in and of itself, is worth something.

Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal

#57

Post by a8da6b0c91d »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #13
hapless wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The practical solution is to spend more money . That means high-wall cubicles (6'-8') or private offices. Those have been the known solutions for forty years. I doubt other solutions exist. Yes, this will cost more. No, there isn't a shortcut.

The practical solution is to spend more money. This is immensely frustrating because it is clear the OP doesn't have the money. So how do you do this if you don't have money for anything but Lucite tables and chairs?

I personally would be fine with an open office if it were truly quiet. A monastic level of sound courtesy. No talking in the main room. No phone ring tones. No desk phones or phone conversations. Put sound isolated phone booths somewhere for calls. If there are doors or elevators nearby make sure they don't bang or beep when used.

I used to study in a big open, well lit room at the university library that was filled with people, but very quiet, and it was fine.

You would have to establish a culture of seriously chewing out people for making noise. The problem is, introverts are not likely to do that.

The only other factor is everybody has to have a proper wall to their back. Something in the mamillian brain freaks out when there are people moving about at your six.

Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal

#58

Post by [deleted] »

kabdib wrote: post #47
bitwarrior wrote: post #5

As someone with the authority to make the necessary changes to our office environment, it frustrates me to read these kind of blog posts. I have read a couple dozen similar posts which merely complain about open offices, but offer absolutely nothing in the way of practical solutions. We don't have the opportunity or space to give everyone their own dedicated office, and cubicles I'm sure would be a living hell. I've…

Increase the budget. It's pretty simple. The deal is: If you provide a crappy work environment, there had better be other compensations (interesting projects, money, great cow-orkers, etc.) or I'm going to leave. And I have done this, with no regrets other than feeling bad for the people I left behind (some of whom I try to recruit). And at some point, when a project is done or someone really good bails for a better…

[deleted]

Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal

#59

Post by jccc »

benihana wrote: post #18

> Introversion—along with its cousins sensitivity, seriousness, and shyness—is now a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology. Introverts living under the Extrovert Ideal are like women in a man’s world, discounted because of a trait that goes to the core of who they are. Extroversion is an enormously appealing personality style, but we’ve turned it into an oppressive standar…

I say this as a highly introverted person who spends most of his free time alone with this thoughts.

How much of your work time do you spend alone with your thoughts? If this isn't a problem you have at work, then I'm not sure how much you really understand the point of view of the demographic under discussion.

Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal

#60

Post by iamdave »

dublinben wrote: post #48
iamdave wrote: post #12

Anecdote: Working IT in an open cubicle environment is absolute pure fucking hell . Nevermind that the last guy left me with cable management that would make a three year old sick to their stomachs, not having an area that I can cordon off and close when I absolutely MUST shut out the world and focus on a task has been a mental and motivational drain. (This is compounded by being 1 IT staff in a company approaching 1…

If your measurement is correct, then your office environment violates OSHA regulations. https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_tab...

That's quite valuable information to me; given I'm sick of troubleshooting that damn wireless music box and have been trying to get rid of it for months.

This is ammunition much needed.

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