Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Is the open office layout dead?

blogs.dropbox.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 373 posts

Re: Is the open office layout dead?

#21

Post by lj3 »

davb wrote: post #7

> No designated desks I hate hot desking. I know it's very subjective but when I come into an office for eight hours a day, five days a week, I like to personalise my workspace. I don't drive, I take public transport and walk, and hate carting my laptop and charger around with me. I want my own space, with meeting rooms and collaboration spaces for when I need those things. I may be alone in saying so, but I'd happil…

What if they gave everybody a desk with wheels? Then you can wheel your desk with your tools wherever you want to work that day.

Re: Is the open office layout dead?

#22

Post by cm2187 »

Zigurd wrote: post #11

I doubt it. Although I think a quiet private office is the best environment for those times when you need hours of uninterrupted concentration, other changes make open offices tolerable. My 4k screen occupies almost all of my field of view. I like ambient music for the coding trance. Instead I predict the death of the office. Remote work in dispersed co-working spaces is even more cost-efficient than an open office.

Remote working may be fine for software development, but for professions where most of the day is spent interacting with people one way or another (for instance in my line of business - banking) it's a massive drop in efficiency.

That being said the trend I am seeing among banks is to favour cost savings over the efficiency of the business. For instance by moving departments to cities where few people want to go. Lots of people leaving, banks struggling to recruit there, but they seem to go ahead anyway.

Re: Is the open office layout dead?

#23

Post by MaxLeiter »

lj3 wrote: post #21
davb wrote: post #7

> No designated desks I hate hot desking. I know it's very subjective but when I come into an office for eight hours a day, five days a week, I like to personalise my workspace. I don't drive, I take public transport and walk, and hate carting my laptop and charger around with me. I want my own space, with meeting rooms and collaboration spaces for when I need those things. I may be alone in saying so, but I'd happil…

What if they gave everybody a desk with wheels? Then you can wheel your desk with your tools wherever you want to work that day.

This is what Valve does

http://www.valvesoftware.com/company/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.p...

Re: Is the open office layout dead?

#24

Post by sundvor »

strictnein wrote: post #19
thesmallestcat wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't give them any ideas, or things will go the other way: Want an external monitor? That'll be $50/month. Access to the supply closet is $10/month.

I've brought my own monitor into work before. Was about to do it with my current role until they finally got me a decent one.

I have my own personal U3415W for my Visual Studio programming. I have brought it up in interviews, if any issues to my bringing it in.

(At home I have the Acer X34 Predator. The Dell came first; when I realised how good it was for programming I knew I needed one at work.)

Re: Is the open office layout dead?

#26

Post by reefoctopus »

lj3 wrote: post #21
davb wrote: post #7

> No designated desks I hate hot desking. I know it's very subjective but when I come into an office for eight hours a day, five days a week, I like to personalise my workspace. I don't drive, I take public transport and walk, and hate carting my laptop and charger around with me. I want my own space, with meeting rooms and collaboration spaces for when I need those things. I may be alone in saying so, but I'd happil…

What if they gave everybody a desk with wheels? Then you can wheel your desk with your tools wherever you want to work that day.

I have trouble coding while people are looking at me. It is distracting and prevents me from getting in the zone. Unless I can wheel my desk into a private office it still sounds terrible.

Re: Is the open office layout dead?

#27

Post by reificator »

lj3 wrote: post #21
davb wrote: post #7

> No designated desks I hate hot desking. I know it's very subjective but when I come into an office for eight hours a day, five days a week, I like to personalise my workspace. I don't drive, I take public transport and walk, and hate carting my laptop and charger around with me. I want my own space, with meeting rooms and collaboration spaces for when I need those things. I may be alone in saying so, but I'd happil…

What if they gave everybody a desk with wheels? Then you can wheel your desk with your tools wherever you want to work that day.

The Valve approach eh?

Page 6: http://www.valvesoftware.com/company/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.p...

Re: Is the open office layout dead?

#28

Post by cm2187 »

thesmallestcat wrote: post #17
cm2187 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are not alone!

Don't give them any ideas, or things will go the other way: Want an external monitor? That'll be $50/month. Access to the supply closet is $10/month.

I would be happy to pay out of my own pocket for a better hardware than the POS I am forced to work with. All the machines are connected with 100Mbit, and we only just switched from Windows XP...

Re: Is the open office layout dead?

#29

Post by chank »

banach wrote: post #3
concede_pluto wrote: post #2

It's been over a decade since I had so much as a semi-private office (shared with just one quiet teammate) so I have to say the death of the open office is exaggerated. And all of their workarounds assume a laptop could ever substitute for a desktop with an ergonomic keyboard and a large screen. It's amazing that the escalating competition in pay and perks never seem to include space to get into the zone.

It's funny how you classify "space to get into the zone" as an employee benefit, while all that does is increase your productivity. But I guess that could mean going home earlier...

> "space to get into the zone" as an employee benefit.

A thing that used to be standard is now a benefit. Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.

Re: Is the open office layout dead?

#30

Post by oldandtired »

As long as an office is considered a status symbol by management, then the open plan environment will stay. In a general sense, offices for any reason related to productivity is a non-starter today (has been so for a number of decades).

Offices are considered a reward for climbing the hierarchy not for actual work by the plebs (you know, those who would actually need it or benefit from it for work purposes).

And certainly, if the senior bods don't have offices then the junior workers will never get them.

Post reply on HN