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Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

nytimes.com

11–20 of 189 posts

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#11

There's a good alternative to the open floor plans everyone is building: noise insulated "pods" with 10~12 devs and a meeting room.

Both open office plans and pods sound more like breeding grounds for human transmitted illness and disease, not a future I'm keen to optimize for.

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#13
post #4

> when the company asked a diverse group of consultants — including sociologists who study “Generation Z” and how junior high students socialize and learn — to imagine what future workers would want. Danger Will Robinson Danger! Why would anyone try and make decisions based on the preference of jr. High students. Making decisions based on youth in the most unstable period of their life when they are incredibly hormon…

I agree. I think as a society, we need to stop fetishizing youth. Not contempt - but tone it down a bit. Kids today have wanton access to internet and technology but aren't any smarter or better at making decisions. One might make an argument that they may be worse. Certainly more prone to group think than generations previous which is good and terrible at the same time.

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#15
post #8

If the shuttle buses are to be suspended, but they still expect people to come to work, it is a recipe for disaster. When I still worked there, about 60% of my co-workers took the shuttle from San Francisco. About 90% of those who did, did not own a car. Telling them they have to come to the office or quit is equivalent to firing them. I doubt anybody is going to buy a car AND sit an hour in traffic in the morning an…

Xoogler or not, you still have to go through the leetcode gauntlet, and a bunch of places that would pay you the same are all asking to 'go into the office'. FB, Apple, etc.

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#16
As a Googler, I'm pretty disappointed with this plan and I think many colleagues are as well. The office that's being pitched right now has no resemblance whatsoever to the one we left. I just don't see why someone would go through 1+hr commute just to social distance/wear masks, use balloon walls and hotdesk. By now, many of us have gotten a good setup at home and are pretty productive.

Even the hybrid model isn't ideal, because you still need to be within commuting distance of the office, if it was something like 2 weeks onsite every 2-3 months, it'd be much more doable imo.

For the ones who really miss the office, they should be able to go, but mandatory return-to-office seems far from ideal until mask mandate is over at the very least.

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#17

Am I the only one that doesn't really want to live in any version of the future as imagined by Google?

Definitely not, all of these ideas horrified me.

Why should I even go into the office during a pandemic, it just does not make sense.

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#18
post #15
post #8

If the shuttle buses are to be suspended, but they still expect people to come to work, it is a recipe for disaster. When I still worked there, about 60% of my co-workers took the shuttle from San Francisco. About 90% of those who did, did not own a car. Telling them they have to come to the office or quit is equivalent to firing them. I doubt anybody is going to buy a car AND sit an hour in traffic in the morning an…

Xoogler or not, you still have to go through the leetcode gauntlet, and a bunch of places that would pay you the same are all asking to 'go into the office'. FB, Apple, etc.

I thought FB went permanent remote option. Did that change?

Re: Over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs

#20
post #4

> when the company asked a diverse group of consultants — including sociologists who study “Generation Z” and how junior high students socialize and learn — to imagine what future workers would want. Danger Will Robinson Danger! Why would anyone try and make decisions based on the preference of jr. High students. Making decisions based on youth in the most unstable period of their life when they are incredibly hormon…

In 7 years their L3 engineers are going to be those jr. high gen Z kids, and in real estate, your office furniture and space plans need to last at least 10-20 years.
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