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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

#21

Post by quotemstr »

brandonbloom wrote: post #20
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.

Back when I was in Windows and Windows Phone, almost everyone got an individual office. A few people had to double up, but there were no massive cubicle farms or open-cacophony areas. Even the smallest, darkest interior office had a door.

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

#22

Post by tzakrajs »

steverb wrote: post #19
normloman wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Good thing you love your job.

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

#23

Post by ExpiredLink »

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.

> Programmers are also expensive.

I seriously doubt that. I see so much wasted programmer time in my daily work. It must be a cheap commodity.

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

#24

Post by steverb »

tzakrajs wrote: post #22
steverb wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Good thing you love your job.

I love my people. I took the management gig because I was tired of seeing other people do it poorly. I figured I could do it at least little better than they were.

Results are currently mixed. :-)

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

#25

Post by avelis »

How about study area's in libraries? Big open spaces with maybe some nooks and crannies but immense amount of focus and concentration. The difference is the implied quiet culture. (i.e ssshhh this is a library.)

My suggestion: You can keep the open space but you need to enforce either a quiet area for focus or carve out a specified area for loud and open collaboration.

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

#26

Post by cbaleanu »

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…

Having worked both in Europe and in the US, I can only agree with this observation. Open space is indeed very popular and expected in Europe.

I think it has to do with culture. Socializing during office hours is encouraged as employees tend to be more productive if they are in a good mood.

Cubicles are universally perceived as bad and boring to be in, as you cannot socialize.

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

#27

Post by greenyoda »

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.

Software developers are much more expensive than the office space they occupy. For the price of a developer, say $100K a year ($8333 per month), you can get rent an entire luxury apartment in NYC. A hundred square feet of space in an office building (the size of a single-person office) is a tiny fraction of that.

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

#28

Post by marssaxman »

quotemstr wrote: post #21
brandonbloom wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fog Creek: Yes Microsoft: Depends on the team, but mostly no.

Back when I was in Windows and Windows Phone, almost everyone got an individual office. A few people had to double up, but there were no massive cubicle farms or open-cacophony areas. Even the smallest, darkest interior office had a door.

"Everyone gets their own office!" the recruiter said. Then I spent my entire Microsoft career sharing a series of offices with random people I never talked to who were working on completely unrelated projects. Worst of both worlds, really.

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

#29

Post by slowmover »

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.

For this very reason I made a pair of "stealth" earplugs. Take a standard "memory foam" type earplug, cut it down so the outer edge is flush with your ear hole, and color the outer surface of it black with a sharpie. I've worn them all day before without anyone noticing. They cut down the distant noise, but still let enough sound through to have a normal conversation with someone nearby.

And yes, I invented these shortly after my work area was converted to an open floor plan.

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

#30

Post by mattgreenrocks »

trhway wrote: post #3

offices are for professionals and academia, cubicles are for technical staff and open [factory] floor is for blue collars and low level clerical (i.e. easily replaceable commodity). That basically reflects the evolution of status of programmers in the society during the last 60 years.

It hurts to read this, but it's true.

This also explains why programmers get horrible treatment, equity-wise.

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