How I learned to stop worrying and love the cubicle • Hacker News Board

Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the cubicle

#21

Post by kfk » Tue, Jan 05, 2016, 7:17 PM UTC

The thing is: who leaves at 5pm? It's 8:15pm and I am still here (OK, I work in an office, but still). I think working from home you can get free time simply being more productive. I know I would do that. At work, you have to be there, even just to wait that your boss is finished with task A, so that he can finalize task B with you. Then you have the commute, mine is 90 minutes per day.

Bottom line: I don't have time, I get home very tired, the work I do could be done in less time or better distributed through the day.

Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the cubicle

#22

Post by DonHopkins » Tue, Jan 05, 2016, 7:19 PM UTC

proksoup wrote: post #6

Open office is a trick to make you beg for the cube farm back.

I thought OpenOffice was a trick to make you beg for Microsoft Word back.

It says it right their on their web site: "Help Spread the Word"!

http://www.openoffice.org/download/

Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the cubicle

#23

Post by HeyLaughingBoy » Tue, Jan 05, 2016, 7:26 PM UTC

kfk wrote: post #21

The thing is: who leaves at 5pm? It's 8:15pm and I am still here (OK, I work in an office, but still). I think working from home you can get free time simply being more productive. I know I would do that. At work, you have to be there, even just to wait that your boss is finished with task A, so that he can finalize task B with you. Then you have the commute, mine is 90 minutes per day. Bottom line: I don't have time…

Are you serious? I'm out of the office by 5 at the latest: I have to catch a bus that stops running at 6:15 and I have a 45-minute commute.

I tell my boss when I have to leave, and then I leave by that time. If he needs something from me, it will have to wait until tomorrow unless it's an emergency.

Control your own life!

Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the cubicle

#24

Post by pbreit » Tue, Jan 05, 2016, 7:29 PM UTC

I thought this was going to be about cubes vs open plans. Instead it's about office vs remote. I think we all understand that presence is valuable.

Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the cubicle

#25

Post by amyjess » Tue, Jan 05, 2016, 7:29 PM UTC

kfk wrote: post #21

The thing is: who leaves at 5pm? It's 8:15pm and I am still here (OK, I work in an office, but still). I think working from home you can get free time simply being more productive. I know I would do that. At work, you have to be there, even just to wait that your boss is finished with task A, so that he can finalize task B with you. Then you have the commute, mine is 90 minutes per day. Bottom line: I don't have time…

While I typically don't leave as early as 5 (unless I skip lunch), I don't stay much later, either. I'm always out by 6 unless my coworkers and I went out for a ridiculously long lunch or something.

The good side of working at a defense contractor.

Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the cubicle

#26

Post by jamisteven » Tue, Jan 05, 2016, 7:32 PM UTC

kfk wrote: post #21

The thing is: who leaves at 5pm? It's 8:15pm and I am still here (OK, I work in an office, but still). I think working from home you can get free time simply being more productive. I know I would do that. At work, you have to be there, even just to wait that your boss is finished with task A, so that he can finalize task B with you. Then you have the commute, mine is 90 minutes per day. Bottom line: I don't have time…

"The thing is: who leaves at 5pm?" People with boundaries?

Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the cubicle

#27

Post by Grishnakh » Tue, Jan 05, 2016, 7:37 PM UTC

forrestbrazeal wrote: post #5

I also think the type of cube makes a difference. I currently work in a cube with high walls (at least 12 inches higher than my head when seated) and somehow the psychological effect of that is much better than a low cube where you're staring in someone else's face all the time.

The "low cube" you describe, to me, doesn't even qualify as a "cubicle". That's an "open work area" as far as I'm concerned.

Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the cubicle

#28

Post by DonHopkins » Tue, Jan 05, 2016, 7:37 PM UTC

jclulow wrote: post #9

It's important not to over-value pithy quotes from Steve Jobs (or other successful figures). For starters, it's difficult to say if this particular assertion is even well-founded; less likely still that implementing his rhetoric will simply translate into similar success. Work from home actually works for a lot of people. Some of those people are just as creative, collaborative, driven and successful as the folks tha…

My favorite pithy Steve Jobs quote, from when I was giving him a demo of pie menus on NeWS, is "That sucks! That sucks! That sucks! Oh, that's neat. That sucks!"

Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the cubicle

#29

Post by Grishnakh » Tue, Jan 05, 2016, 7:38 PM UTC

jtymes wrote: post #16

eckza wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely, I'd lose my entire mind if I could see over my cube walls.

Yeah, we have "high" cubicle walls, but the last 12" is glass which defeats the purpose. I face a walkway and people's heads are in my view as they pass, which can be incredibly distracting. We get a lot of natural light this way which can be great, except when the sun rises right into your eyes with no way to block it.

Printer paper and tape would solve your problem quickly.

Re: How I learned to stop worrying and love the cubicle

#30

Post by jamisteven » Tue, Jan 05, 2016, 7:40 PM UTC

yarou wrote: post #17

amyjess wrote: post #2

Cubes get a lot of hate, but I honestly prefer them over an open office. Maybe even better than a solitary office: in my experience, having my own office just felt isolating. I've worked in a cube. I've had my own office. I've shared an office with one other person in a variety of desk arrangements. I currently share a large office with three other people (might as well be an open plan). I'd probably rank the cube se…

I agree that open offices are, in practice, horrific endeavors. But I think the concept behind them is valid: to foster collaboration and eschew meetings. Given the choice between being stuck in meetings all day and an open office plan, I'd take the open office any day.

No, its not. There is a "concept" behind them to justify it in a way that doesnt just spit out "hey, we dont really value you as an employee more than we value a thumbs up from our shareholders". Solitude is necessary for creativity, open floor plans are terrible for cross-collaboration because nobody can concentrate to begin with.