Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace • Hacker News Board

Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace

#101

Post by frostmatthew » Wed, May 27, 2015, 1:40 PM UTC

hanspeter wrote: post #23

crazy_geek wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Study after study show that open distraction office plans are bad for productivity, and increase stress and sick days -- even among those who like open office plans.

Your links to the studies aren't clickable.

> Your links to the studies aren't clickable.

Not the author of the comment you're replying to but elsewhere in this thread (in response to someone else looking for studies) I provided links to numerous articles that each cite/link multiple studies: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9611091

Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace

#102

Post by dataker » Wed, May 27, 2015, 1:42 PM UTC

contergan wrote: post #85

I fully agree. I currently work for a startup and after we moved into a new office last month our management had the glorious idea of putting the programmers next to the customer support team in an open office :/ It's horrible - I have to endure the customer support calls the whole day long and can't find even 5 min. in silence, in order to concentrate on the programming tasks I'm supposed to do. I tried putting on h…

Dilbert principle at its best

Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace

#103

Post by moron4hire » Wed, May 27, 2015, 1:44 PM UTC

A small amount of friction in communication is a good thing. People become intellectually lazy if they can ask questions of anyone they want, at will.

Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace

#104

Post by [deleted] » Wed, May 27, 2015, 1:46 PM UTC

snowwrestler wrote: post #90

bryanlarsen wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As Joel Spolsky noted, getting natural light to a large number of small rooms is basically a solved problem: how many hotel rooms do you see without a window? Sure, private offices are smaller than hotel rooms, but offices generally have large numbers of meeting rooms, labs and common areas that don't need windows. Of course, that means that you need to build office buildings more like hotels; you can't so easily ret…

Hotels can do that because their revenue is directly dependent on the quality of their rooms. No hotel can sell rooms without windows, so every hotel has to invest in architecture that gives every room a window--either through exterior convolutions, or a giant hollow atrium to soak up useless interior space. This is not true of other businesses. A software company makes no money at all from its architecture, so it ca…

[deleted]

Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace

#105

Post by webtards » Wed, May 27, 2015, 1:47 PM UTC

dpcan wrote: post #93

The first 2 startups I worked for back in the early 2000's were open offices, though there were only 6 of us in one room at the first startup, and 3 at the other. At the first startup, thankfully, customer service was in an open office in another part of the small building. Couldn't imagine having to work next to those conversations. In the first company it wasn't so bad, we had all our computers circled and pointed…

I do wonder sometimes, if all the startups that followed Googs lead into open offices have been pranked, much like the interview folks who blindly followed Googs wacky and wanky interview questions, which have also been shown to be a useless idea. There is probably a pranks team in Goog that publicises the ideas to see who will blindly follow.

Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace

#106

Post by xasos » Wed, May 27, 2015, 1:52 PM UTC

Is it really that black and white? I prefer a nice combination where the workplace is relatively open, but people still have space for privacy. It's not like Google throws all their engineers into a room...

> If employers want to make the open-office model work, they have to take measures to improve work efficiency. For one, they should create more private area

Many companies already split up like this, breaking teams down and giving all the members ample space and privacy. The truly open model that I've seen work the best is sales teams, where it has a "sales floor" feel and employees can be energetic making sales.

Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace

#107

Post by artursapek » Wed, May 27, 2015, 1:55 PM UTC

PascLeRasc wrote: post #96

theandrewbailey wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mechanical keyboards? Luxury. Most (all?) places cheap enough to go with open offices give everyone cheap rubber dome keyboards.

Yeah, I suspect the coworkers brought in their own mechs which makes them at fault here. Mechanical keyboards are loud enough to disturb others in a private office setting, I can't imagine hearing multiple nearby with no walls.

Try working in midtown Manhattan! The street noise will make a swarm of mechanical keyboards sound like a lullaby.

I work in an open office of ~20 people and did exactly what you described - I brought my own keyboard to replace the standard issue flat Apple keyboard my company purchased in bulk. It has made a big difference in my typing speed. In fact there's four of us in here with mechanical keyboards and nobody seems to mind. But maybe that's because one of them is the CEO :)

We've honestly never had it come up as a problem.

Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace

#108

Post by redblacktree » Wed, May 27, 2015, 2:01 PM UTC

rwallace wrote: post #75

laichzeit0 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then there is the open plan office, combined with the clean desk policy. That way you have to endure the inane yacking going on around you and god forbid you try and figure something out on a piece of paper while you're working and go grab a coffee without locking said piece of paper in a drawer or it's a written warning. I hate the modern corporate office environment. HR should just be upfront about what open plan o…

This idea that open plan offices are about saving money needs to go in the bit bucket. If it was really about money, they'd have people working from home, which offers far greater cost savings. It's not about money, it's about power, the visible display of subservience.

I'd say it's both. Starting with the constraint: Employees must be in the office, so I know they're working, the cheapest option is an open plan.

Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace

#109

Post by mark_l_watson » Wed, May 27, 2015, 2:01 PM UTC

After 14 years working remotely in a home office I worked at Google in 2013 in an open office. It was an adjustment but I enjoyed it. I shifted my work hours to 6:15am to 4pm for a few hours of quiet work time everyday. Also, there were many places to work away from my desk. Most managers seemed to have more private work spaces.

Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace

#110

Post by keerthiko » Wed, May 27, 2015, 2:05 PM UTC

My preference has always been a shared workspace with the option for coders to pick up their computer and head outside to a coffee shop or unoccupied conference room or something to hack away in the zone when they felt like it.

This worked especially well when our startup was based out of a coworking space that had lots of temporary private spaces for individuals aside from the per-company office rental, when we were just four people.