11–20 of 148 posts
Open office "advantage" is the story owners who can't afford to pay for a better location tell the developers. Sort of like the guy whose car broke so he is taking his tractor to work. He would tell the world how tractors are so much better and have all these great advantages compared to regular cars.
Result: Everyone was unhappy
I remember the library at my university being excellent at getting me in the "flow". It's not so much about "open office vs private office" as it is the expectation in those places. I'm toying with the idea of recreating a library-like environment that is super quiet and zen-like, but not limited in number of people. Go there for flow-type work. On the flip side, have a cafe-like environment for animated collaboratio…
At the same time, I think visual distractions also need to be taken in consideration.
That said, what annoys me the most about the open plan office is also having a boss who cares a lot about what's currently on my screen. (e.g., hacker news rather than vim). I hate having the instinct to cmd-tab every time I see someone walking by. (even if I'm already doing work!)
I want some of whatever their investors are smoking. Edit: Is it the smoke from all those dollar bills going up in those flames?
Around here I have visited one company where it seemed like management where actually out in the open and I think I know one major branch office at one major telco that also does (or did? I haven't heard anything the last few years.)
Open office "advantage" is the story owners who can't afford to pay for a better location tell the developers. Sort of like the guy whose car broke so he is taking his tractor to work. He would tell the world how tractors are so much better and have all these great advantages compared to regular cars.
I've seen managers with a huge budget rip out the tall cubicles and replace them with the small ones, to get these "advantages". Result: Everyone was unhappy
"As a company grows, the cost of restructuring an office to accommodate more people in different layouts is time consuming and expensive. By having desks in an open plan and telephone rooms for quiet time, the idea is that you can solve the cost and flexibility problems while still offering a quiet place to retreat if needed. From a growth perspective this is smart. If I planned to add 30 employees to our office in t…
It's not even about open or not. But I can only be really productive if I'm completely alone.
I remember the library at my university being excellent at getting me in the "flow". It's not so much about "open office vs private office" as it is the expectation in those places. I'm toying with the idea of recreating a library-like environment that is super quiet and zen-like, but not limited in number of people. Go there for flow-type work. On the flip side, have a cafe-like environment for animated collaboratio…
A chap in our office runs to work each day, changes and leaves his damp sweaty clothes around his desk to dry. This means people give him lots of space, and practically his own office.
I had to lay down a protective force field of Lysol when he came back from the "box".