The counterpoint he tries to consider at the end of the article is missing the point. No matter how those successful companies operate today, how did they operate when they first became successful? If it was an open plan, how many people were in the room, and how many different things were they doing?
The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal
61–70 of 92 posts
Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal
#62> 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…
> That quote is so insulting to me as an introvert because it takes such a solipsistic and ego-stroking view of the world: that people who are successful are successful because they fit into the world better, not because they are comfortable and adapted to living in a world that isn't perfectly suited to them.
This was my reaction too, but I was delighted to find that _Quiet_ does not have that tone as a whole.
Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal
#63Anecdote: 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 gif https://www.osha.gov/OshStd_gif/10gfg_9.gif could do with a bit of love.
Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
I've encountered the "truly quiet" environment a few times, and really found that the worst of all: Every noise of the most meek activities, from the clicking of a mouse button to the quiet clearing of a throat, rings throughout the area. After you realize that, concerns that your own minor noises are irritating others puts you on edge, as you try to click the mouse button as softly as possible, ignore that tickle in your throat, etc.
If there isn't good sound suppression, I've found the best alternative is sound camouflaging -- the HVAC fans always distributing noise, or even something as ridiculous as an area fountain. Something to make a base level of white, ignorable noise that stops you from focusing on the small noises.
Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal
#65Earlier 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.
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…
Sennheisers tend to clamp down pretty hard. Especially the 280's and 380's. Maybe another brand would work better.
Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal
#66As 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…
> 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.
Perhaps that's because the extroverts are the ones at the top of the org chart? The best counter-example I can think of is Microsoft during the Bill Gates era.
Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal
#67Every 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…
though there are plenty of people out there that don't want any fame or any kind of prestige.
Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal
#68Multiple comments are mentioning wearing headphones with loud music. But what about earplugs (the disposable foam type)? I’ve worn them during physical work (with loud machines) and, at least for me, they were very effective. I felt I had more energy and focus. Has someone tried them for office work?
Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
That makes sense in a library. Usually studying is a single person activity. However I am sure most software engineering / programming jobs require programming, as well as discussing the problem. That's a fairly essential part of the job, and you can't expect to do that in quiet. To me the ideal solution would be a library at work. I worked in an academic institute that had one. We had 5 or 6 people in an office. Fin…
"Usually studying is a single person activity." Really, what school did you go to? The main reason to go to the library to study was because there would be other people from your class studying there too. So lots of collaboration, working through problem sets together. Yet it managed to stay quiet.
At the school I attended, the quiet parts of the libraries were the parts where people were studying alone. The places in libraries where people studied together (small rooms for studying or larger open rooms with lessened sound restrictions) tended not to be quiet at all.
Re: The Open Plan Office and the Extrovert Ideal
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
With potentially negative long term consequences, and it's not even a stopgap solution for people who need silence, not music/white noise masking their VP.
I'm not saying that it is the wrong solution for you, but it's not a viable solution for everyone.