51–60 of 468 posts
I will never work in an open office plan. It's one of the items on my "prima donna" list. Despite the name I'm pretty serious, and while some of this list represents things that others might not be able to avoid, or even agree with because they are personal preferences, all of the items are the result of bad experiences or missteps I've experienced directly at a job in the past. I know some may object to these. That'…
I wonder how you get around the giant room, and how its space is demarcated. How do you meet up with someone else who is in a faraway part of the room?
Probably the same way people do it at companies that occupy several separate buildings in a complex. You walk.
I will never work in an open office plan. It's one of the items on my "prima donna" list. Despite the name I'm pretty serious, and while some of this list represents things that others might not be able to avoid, or even agree with because they are personal preferences, all of the items are the result of bad experiences or missteps I've experienced directly at a job in the past. I know some may object to these. That'…
I will never work in an open office plan. It's one of the items on my "prima donna" list. Despite the name I'm pretty serious, and while some of this list represents things that others might not be able to avoid, or even agree with because they are personal preferences, all of the items are the result of bad experiences or missteps I've experienced directly at a job in the past. I know some may object to these. That'…
I generally agree with this (although who fucking cares if the company doesn't give you parking but pays you $1k/mo more; if 90% of people use transit in SF, I'm fine with paying parking). I think you underestimate Bezos's technical clue, though. And a 1y cliff is pretty standard. There's no real downside to that.
Convenient to transit plus a transit pass can work for some employees and having that as an option would work for me some of the time. The situation that caused this to go on the list was one where there was no convenient access to transit and I lived in a place without access to transit. A better phrasing would be "have transportation and parking if necessary be convenient and not a significant distraction from work."
I worked with Bezos dealt with him on tickets etc.
1 year cliff is terrible when you get "laid off" in month 11. There's absolutely no reason for it, really. It's not like it takes a year to figure out if an employee is any good or not. It's just greed. It may be "standard" but so are open office plans and I'm no longer interested in "standard".
I will never work in an open office plan. It's one of the items on my "prima donna" list. Despite the name I'm pretty serious, and while some of this list represents things that others might not be able to avoid, or even agree with because they are personal preferences, all of the items are the result of bad experiences or missteps I've experienced directly at a job in the past. I know some may object to these. That'…
Small nitpick regarding #2, Jeff Bezos is technically proficient (engineering degree, he was a quant on Wall Street before Amazon).
I will never work in an open office plan. It's one of the items on my "prima donna" list. Despite the name I'm pretty serious, and while some of this list represents things that others might not be able to avoid, or even agree with because they are personal preferences, all of the items are the result of bad experiences or missteps I've experienced directly at a job in the past. I know some may object to these. That'…
May I ask if you are working now? If yes, are you hiring?
I'm CTO of a very small startup, and we're experimenting with an organizational structure based on the causes of this list and a bunch of other stuff-- found a CEO whose really all about the love- there is no other word for it.
We're not hiring yet, unfortunately.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Probably the same way people do it at companies that occupy several separate buildings in a complex. You walk.
I'm asking how you know where to walk to. Sheesh.
Having worked as researcher/dev in both private office and open space setup, I am absolutely convinced that private offices are way more productive than open office setup for researchers and developers. Most, if not all, of my colleagues feel the same. In fact, I don't think I will ever accept an offer from a mature company (not startup) which houses its developers in open space.
The only redeeming feature of open plan comes from Hamming's essay, you and your research: Another trait, it took me a while to notice. 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 k…
I'm not saying that you are saying the opposite, I'm just saying that the cause/effect is very much up in the air. I never thought it was as straight forward as asking "what is better?" (as he rightly asks too)
Personally, I never looked for fame (and I'm old enough to say that I likely never will look for it). In the end, what I want is: to be right. Even if it takes 100 wrongs to get there. With that in mind, I would be better off if I was an extrovert as I'd probably get through the wrongs quicker than if I preferred my solitude.
But as it stands, I like to be able to stare absentmindedly in a random direction without the risk of accidentally glancing at someone's new hat or haircut.
I don't know if I am slower or slightly wrong. I would not rule it out, though. :)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For me, open office + headphones = private office. At a vastly reduced cost. I know that doesn't work for everyone though.
It also equals hearing loss, but that doesn't show up on the company balance sheets.