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Ending the open office epidemic

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Re: Ending the open office epidemic

#71

Post by TeMPOraL »

kazinator wrote: post #23

Open offices instantly "out" anyone who comes late, leaves early, takes a 2.5 hour lunch breaks, or surfs the web instead of working. And that's really the whole point. It's why they are popular in Japan, together with the fact that thanks to the open structure, transgressor can apologize in front of everyone at once.

> Open offices instantly "out" anyone who comes late, leaves early, takes a 2.5 hour lunch breaks, or surfs the web instead of working.

Looks at HN karma. Yeah, if only they did that.

I guess a lot depends on company culture, but I'm yet to work in an open-office space where I could actually focus on anything harder than the most mechanical coding tasks.

Re: Ending the open office epidemic

#72

Post by MAGZine »

cnagele wrote: post #56
MAGZine wrote: post #22

So, I've worked at what is essentially a F500 company, and am currently studying at University. My feelings: - I really like collaborative spaces/pods except when I'm trying to really hammer on work, independently. I don't like being isolated. If I come into the office at 7-or-8am before everyone arrives, those two hours will outstrip the rest of my day (except after 6pm). Noise, mid-afternoon, is especially bad and…

Your first point reinforces our decision on private offices. We encourage only working 8 hours a day. This way you don't have a chance to stay late or work long hours to find that "quiet time" when everyone is gone. It's up to us, the founders, to make sure you are productive during the day. We believe that when you come to work you should make the best of those hours so you can spend the evening with your family, fr…

I'm glad that you feel that way! I'm a big proponent of work-life balance, so being able to be productive enough through the day so I can leave without feeling guilty is a huge plus. I wish more companies held similar views.

Hopefully, if there are enough productivity gains and as the startup transitions out of super-lean mode, you could represent that increased productivity with a shortened work day/week!

Re: Ending the open office epidemic

#73

Post by trose »

skriticos2 wrote: post #65
lallysingh wrote: post #36

I guess I'm in a real minority here, but I'm pretty happy with open-office. Some qualifiers: - The team has a good culture of respecting each other, and we're busy enough not to want to banter too much outside of certain times (e.g., lunch, when we see it already going on, etc.). - I've got good headphones hooked to a 24-bit-DAC'd USB amp. I don't hear anyone unless I'm trying to. - My screen's big enough where visua…

Asking someone a quick question while they are in the middle of something is a good way to break their focus. It takes a lot of effort to "get into the zone", so you will not only lower the productivity of the person you "ask a quick question", but you'll also make him frustrated. He may even get a head-ache. How can you live with yourself? This mostly applies to jobs which involve a higher degree of complexity, like…

I reject this assertion that people get ripped "out of the zone". What are you doing that is so complex that you can't jump right back into it?

I've met plenty of people that like to act like they're some super elite programmer that is juggling complex class structures and debugging them inside their head. In my experience so far, those people are full of shit and make overly complex spaghetti code. Idk though, maybe this is different between web development and something like game engine development.

Re: Ending the open office epidemic

#74

Post by rm445 »

lallysingh wrote: post #36

I guess I'm in a real minority here, but I'm pretty happy with open-office. Some qualifiers: - The team has a good culture of respecting each other, and we're busy enough not to want to banter too much outside of certain times (e.g., lunch, when we see it already going on, etc.). - I've got good headphones hooked to a 24-bit-DAC'd USB amp. I don't hear anyone unless I'm trying to. - My screen's big enough where visua…

The middle ground is small group offices, and many (most?) people are fairly happy there. Actual giant open-plan offices can be distracting beyond what's tolerable.

Re: Ending the open office epidemic

#75

Post by trhway »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #35
mattmanser wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pair programming with daily shame meetings where you have to justify your job by how much work you did yesterday.

While the whole thing takes place in a 3D wireframe beehive.

> 3D wireframe beehive.

while progress can't be stopped, it is possibly to capitalize on it - i think you should file a patent together with the other guy who mentioned beehive :)

Re: Ending the open office epidemic

#76

Post by joesmo »

Another negative about open office plans that I don't see people mentioning is the hearing loss due to having to wear headphones up to eight hours a day. Headphones are generally not recommended to be used more than an hour a day and even then, they need to be at a low volume, something that's impossible in the open-office plans I've seen/worked in.

"As a rule of thumb, you should only use MP3 devices at levels up to 60% of maximum volume for a total of 60 minutes a day" (http://www.osteopathic.org/osteopathic-health/about-your-hea...).

Re: Ending the open office epidemic

#77

Post by TeMPOraL »

trhway wrote: post #17

office -> cube -> open floor plan -> next? what can be even worse than the open floor? Transparent floors? No walls at all? I'm sure in a few years we'll know.

Transparent glass screens. So that you have no walls and no visual separation, and yet can still work.

Re: Ending the open office epidemic

#78

Post by warfangle »

trose wrote: post #73
skriticos2 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asking someone a quick question while they are in the middle of something is a good way to break their focus. It takes a lot of effort to "get into the zone", so you will not only lower the productivity of the person you "ask a quick question", but you'll also make him frustrated. He may even get a head-ache. How can you live with yourself? This mostly applies to jobs which involve a higher degree of complexity, like…

I reject this assertion that people get ripped "out of the zone". What are you doing that is so complex that you can't jump right back into it? I've met plenty of people that like to act like they're some super elite programmer that is juggling complex class structures and debugging them inside their head. In my experience so far, those people are full of shit and make overly complex spaghetti code. Idk though, maybe…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivity...

Adults have it; amphetamines help but don't cure it; the ADA requires reasonable accommodations for it.

Re: Ending the open office epidemic

#79

Post by stephengillie »

rm445 wrote: post #74
lallysingh wrote: post #36

I guess I'm in a real minority here, but I'm pretty happy with open-office. Some qualifiers: - The team has a good culture of respecting each other, and we're busy enough not to want to banter too much outside of certain times (e.g., lunch, when we see it already going on, etc.). - I've got good headphones hooked to a 24-bit-DAC'd USB amp. I don't hear anyone unless I'm trying to. - My screen's big enough where visua…

The middle ground is small group offices, and many (most?) people are fairly happy there. Actual giant open-plan offices can be distracting beyond what's tolerable.

Our open office of ~30 developers and engineers is fairly happy, once we got managers out of their offices and stuck the noisy client services/salespeople into the offices.

Re: Ending the open office epidemic

#80

Post by marmot1101 »

rm445 wrote: post #74
lallysingh wrote: post #36

I guess I'm in a real minority here, but I'm pretty happy with open-office. Some qualifiers: - The team has a good culture of respecting each other, and we're busy enough not to want to banter too much outside of certain times (e.g., lunch, when we see it already going on, etc.). - I've got good headphones hooked to a 24-bit-DAC'd USB amp. I don't hear anyone unless I'm trying to. - My screen's big enough where visua…

The middle ground is small group offices, and many (most?) people are fairly happy there. Actual giant open-plan offices can be distracting beyond what's tolerable.

I thrive in the small group office. You get the flow of ideas that are trying to be achieved with the open plan, but without as much of the noise. And it's easier to call out one or two people for being difficult to work with than it is many. I hated a private cube(big effin cube with high walls and all) because I felt like I was in solitary. Sometimes I want to bullshit about what I did over the weekend, or discuss a philisophical question about what I'm doing. Seems weird to pop into someone else's private space to do so.
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