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The inexplicable rise of open floor plans in tech companies

nathanmarz.com

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Re: The inexplicable rise of open floor plans in tech companies

#11

Post by CoffeeDregs »

I hesitate to say this, but I'm a big fan of cubicles... But not the cubicles you're probably thinking of...

I'm a fan of 4-8 person teams attacking problems together and I've found flexible cubicle arrangements to be very effective. At one company, we could change around our cubes (albeit not terribly frequently) and it was great to be able to create a multi-person office with a conference table for your team (e.g. PM, designer, developers). We had tight collaboration and our own private space without being distracted by the larger company. Of course, this style of organization also affect project management, etc, but it was quite effective.

Re: The inexplicable rise of open floor plans in tech companies

#12

Post by zeckalpha »

pbreit wrote: post #9
ChuckMcM wrote: post #6

This is an interesting rant on open offices. The 'inexplicable' part is rationalized as a cost savings thing. Open offices are different. They have been very common in Europe for years. I remember being astonished visiting offices in Switzerland back in the 90's with folks sitting at desks just out in the open. And while I found it abhorrent (I had an office back at HQ, with a window no less), these people did seem t…

Headphones are a lousy answer considering that many/most people would prefer not to work with them on or listen to music while working.

Sometimes I listen to brown noise when I don't want to listen to music. You may prefer white or pink.

Re: The inexplicable rise of open floor plans in tech companies

#14

Post by Stwerner »

I think there's something more to the open floor plan beyond collaboration and cost saving. It goes back to a post I saw here a few months ago about building unity [1] with the team. I don't know the answer, but I think there is something to be gained by fostering the feeling of "We're all in this together".

I'm a software engineer who has only worked in open plan offices, so maybe I don't know the joy of working in an office, but there is definitely a different feel from the one office where the managers/partners had their own offices and everyone else was open plan vs everyone in the same couple rows of desks.

[1] http://jasonlefkowitz.net/2013/03/how-winners-win-john-boyd-...

Re: The inexplicable rise of open floor plans in tech companies

#16

Post by mtrimpe »

CoffeeDregs wrote: post #11

I hesitate to say this, but I'm a big fan of cubicles... But not the cubicles you're probably thinking of... I'm a fan of 4-8 person teams attacking problems together and I've found flexible cubicle arrangements to be very effective. At one company, we could change around our cubes (albeit not terribly frequently) and it was great to be able to create a multi-person office with a conference table for your team (e.g.…

I'm reading PeopleWare right now which deals with this issue at length and their conclusion is quite similar to yours.

In retrospect it's as simple as it's obvious: people should be allowed to setup their offices in a way that works for them.

Interestingly enough this all comes from the original patterns book, the one which concerned itself with actual architecture.

It essentially states that people should create their own space and that structure and order should only be imposed through adherence to shared general principles.

Many of these principles seem so simple and obvious yet are so often forgotten in practice, such as that the wall should be far away enough to give your eyes a chance to relax.

Another one was that the sounds you heard had to be similar to that of your own, which seems strikingly true in my own experience.

Re: The inexplicable rise of open floor plans in tech companies

#17

Post by normloman »

ExpiredLink wrote: post #13

> Cost-effectiveness of open floor plans Office space is expensive, labor is cheap. That's the conclusion. It's the economy, stupid.

Programmers are also expensive. If open offices are lowering their productivity, every manager in tech is penny wise and pound foolish.

Re: The inexplicable rise of open floor plans in tech companies

#18

Post by brown9-2 »

Another thing that people like about the open floor plan is that it "looks good" and has the "startup feel".

I think this is the simplest explanation for the "inexplicable" trend. Companies see other young, hip, growing companies/startups do it, so they feel that they should do the same thing if they want to be a young, hip, growing startup.

Re: The inexplicable rise of open floor plans in tech companies

#19

Post by steverb »

normloman wrote: post #17
ExpiredLink wrote: post #13

> Cost-effectiveness of open floor plans Office space is expensive, labor is cheap. That's the conclusion. It's the economy, stupid.

Programmers are also expensive. If open offices are lowering their productivity, every manager in tech is penny wise and pound foolish.

As a manager in tech, it's not my fault.

I've complained so much about the open office layout that I've been told point blank to shut up about it.

Re: The inexplicable rise of open floor plans in tech companies

#20

Post by brandonbloom »

pbreit wrote: post #7

So does anyone have the answer? Low cubes? High cubes? Share cubes? Shared offices? Individual offices? Why so little experimentation and innovation in the tech world on what is perhaps the most important aspect of the company? Does Fog Creek still give developers individual offices? Microsoft? Joel Spolsky wrote about an office design where the walls were slanted and interior windows were present so each office had…

Fog Creek: Yes

Microsoft: Depends on the team, but mostly no.

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