121–130 of 148 posts
Every few months there's an opinion piece on HN about open offices. Then everyone gets into the same debate over whether they like the open offices or not. What I'd like to see are new STUDIES about open offices, not the rehashing of personal experiences and anecdotes.
We get it, HN is majority introvert, and really likes logical optimization using data. But some things aren't easily measurable. Is it a coincidence that companies who pioneered the open office plan are also some of the most successful in the world? Show me how you'd even begin to disprove that and I'll show you a dozen confounding variables making it silly to even try. What is the true impact of an open office on a…
"Is it a coincidence that companies who pioneered the open office plan are also some of the most successful in the world?" Yes. If a successful company had their employees sitting in bean bag chairs all day, that wouldn't mean that somehow bean bag chairs we're responsible for their success.
We get it, HN is majority introvert, and really likes logical optimization using data. But some things aren't easily measurable. Is it a coincidence that companies who pioneered the open office plan are also some of the most successful in the world? Show me how you'd even begin to disprove that and I'll show you a dozen confounding variables making it silly to even try. What is the true impact of an open office on a…
If two things correlate, it doesn't mean that there's a causal link between them; it means that there's a third thing that causes both of them. Those companies who pioneered the open office plans also do a lot of other things that set themselves apart from other companies. It doesn't necessarily mean anything important. For all you know, the open plan office could be a failed attempt to optimise their workforce.
SAP star building in Germany headquarters are a good example of what to do with office spaces: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gOgdHlT33Jo/TQ7zXFqaxjI/AAAAAAAAAJ... http://www.mz-web.de/image/view/2012/4/23/17117282,16301136,... http://www.donfeidner.de/assets/images/P1000400_SAP_Star_Bui... The wings have offices which can sit 6 to 8 people and at the center there are the meeting rooms, restrooms and lunch area.
We get it, HN is majority introvert, and really likes logical optimization using data. But some things aren't easily measurable. Is it a coincidence that companies who pioneered the open office plan are also some of the most successful in the world? Show me how you'd even begin to disprove that and I'll show you a dozen confounding variables making it silly to even try. What is the true impact of an open office on a…
Yes, the open office nature of Facebook may have been crucial to its early success. But that was when Facebook was less than 10 people! Many people consider small team offices to be more akin to private offices than to open plan offices.
If you don't like this, why not go start your own company or find a new job? There is nothing forcing you to stay in this job. I for one have to agree that the communal aspect of working in an open office has its benefits and downfalls. But if one day I came in and didn't like it to the level you described - I'd quit and go find a job where I can get right with myself.
I think this is a good suggestion. I've given up on 'contracting' these days, solely because I hate open plan, and just consult freelance. I rent my own office to work in and it's lovely. I get lonely though! I miss the technical and social conversations we used to have in the kitchen or round the coffee machine. What would be ideal is if I were to rent an office inside the company I'm working for. I would actually b…
SAP star building in Germany headquarters are a good example of what to do with office spaces: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gOgdHlT33Jo/TQ7zXFqaxjI/AAAAAAAAAJ... http://www.mz-web.de/image/view/2012/4/23/17117282,16301136,... http://www.donfeidner.de/assets/images/P1000400_SAP_Star_Bui... The wings have offices which can sit 6 to 8 people and at the center there are the meeting rooms, restrooms and lunch area.
Group spaces are quite prevalent in Germany from what I can tell. It makes total sense, in Germany. There is a bit of a difference in the USA though, where employers think you get productivity out of surveillance. We are not a very deeply thinking society, so it makes sense on the face of it that if you can see people working they are being productive. What we miss though, is that all the surveillance and lack of pro…
That's kinda subjective; it looks fine to me, although I do miss contextual linking and collapsible comments (a la reddit) - although, this is something they're working on.
One facet that never comes up in these anti-open office articles is that it is 100% impossible to design the perfect office for you as an individual, for every other individual, all while designing an office that is perfect for the organization. Many people here advocate private offices, which are great, but as soon as you start putting up walls, you've totally restricted access to natural light in the interior of th…
Don't kid yourself. Take down walls, and people will still find ways to signal rank and hierarchy. People are the cause of this, not private working spaces.
The results were not what he would have wanted: management now commandeers the conference and meeting rooms almost all the time.
And the buildings are incredibly awful for individual workers (absolutely no privacy at all, either a totalitarian no-sound approach or complete chaos, no private phone calls, etc.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's kinda tiresome, on HN there's is this rabid pro-open plan brigade, even though all the studies show otherwise. It's the same as the "I can work 60 hours productivly" brigade. All the studies, for over a century (yes, century, not decades) have shown otherwise. They are studies that show that people delude themselves into thinking they are more productive than they are. And yet, no matter how many articles and pa…
It's a conspiracy, and you have proof of this. But are reluctant to show us as we wouldn't believe you anyway. Interesting.
For some reason working conditions and working hours are incredibly emotive subjects, similar to women in tech, that tend to bring out the irrational side of otherwise lucid HN posters.
One facet that never comes up in these anti-open office articles is that it is 100% impossible to design the perfect office for you as an individual, for every other individual, all while designing an office that is perfect for the organization. Many people here advocate private offices, which are great, but as soon as you start putting up walls, you've totally restricted access to natural light in the interior of th…
it's kind of like the Agile debate. Either you adhere to it 100% or it's a FAIL. What about taking all the parts that work for you and adopting them according to local culture. I get that it's no longer pure Agile but it can still partially work (i.e. having scrums and sprints and frequent releases but without having to work 12 hr days to meet the sprint if things come up etc). sorry about off point but the 2 debates have always been similar to me.