office -> cube -> open floor plan -> next? what can be even worse than the open floor? Transparent floors? No walls at all? I'm sure in a few years we'll know.
Pair programming.
Ending the open office epidemic
21–30 of 148 posts
Re: Ending the open office epidemic
#22So, I've worked at what is essentially a F500 company, and am currently studying at University. My feelings:
- I really like collaborative spaces/pods except when I'm trying to really hammer on work, independently. I don't like being isolated. If I come into the office at 7-or-8am before everyone arrives, those two hours will outstrip the rest of my day (except after 6pm). Noise, mid-afternoon, is especially bad and distracting. Some people in my group have taken to occupying entire meeting rooms just so they can focus in quiet.
- I am most productive at University in quiet spaces. The library, mostly. BUT, in an environment where I'm working with other people, bouncing ideas, etc, it's not a productive environment because libraries demand QUIET. My second favorite place to work is in one of our "group study" rooms. They're small, private rooms with space for up to 6 people. Whiteboards and TVs, outlets, etc are provided.
I think separating people into these rooms would be my ideal configuration. I'm not sure that I'd necessarily partition people officially (except in cases where people want an office to e.g. store belongings), just give people a notebook and say sit where you want. I can therefore sit in whichever room I want, and multiple people who demand quiet working conditions are able to share a space. This combines the nicety of social interaction, being able to discuss with someone about work-or-non-work related things, with long stretches of quiet, uninterrupted worktime.
The ideal office (or at least one I'd like to try working in) would be where there are many offices small offices that represent these group study rooms. Natural light (with blinds), comfy chairs, TVs for presenting, whiteboards, climate control, etc. Take one room and copy/paste it. Add some open areas as well, for people who prefer to work in those spaces. Destress/common areas.
Re: Ending the open office epidemic
#23Open offices instantly "out" anyone who comes late, leaves early, takes a 2.5 hour lunch breaks, or surfs the web instead of working.
And that's really the whole point.
It's why they are popular in Japan, together with the fact that thanks to the open structure, transgressor can apologize in front of everyone at once.
Re: Ending the open office epidemic
#24I will say that not all open offices are the same. The one I work in currently is constantly noisy - people will wander around on the phone arguing loudly, for instance. But others I've visited were wonderfully quiet, with the few conversations occurring in hushed voices. That said, what annoys me the most about the open plan office is also having a boss who cares a lot about what's currently on my screen. (e.g., hac…
I do that whether or not I have a boss that cares. It's easy to feel judged by people walking behind you glancing at your screen. A little privacy is amazing.
Re: Ending the open office epidemic
#25office -> cube -> open floor plan -> next? what can be even worse than the open floor? Transparent floors? No walls at all? I'm sure in a few years we'll know.
3D is the open-plan future. Glass partitions at every multiple of 7 feet, going up to 35. (Those anachronistic things called floors will be ripped out, of course. You just need strong glass that can support the weight.) If you're female, don't wear a skirt to work unless you're seated on the bottom level.
Re: Ending the open office epidemic
#26A chap in our office runs to work each day, changes and leaves his damp sweaty clothes around his desk to dry. This means people give him lots of space, and practically his own office.
In my opinion, a good office should have (a) shower(s) -- unless it's right next to a gym, a spot to take naps, and a spot to take private calls. In addition of a layout fit for the way teams are organized.
That sounds awesome. Just from my own experience, having some intermittent activity throughout a day can help a lot. Walks can help for small breaks, and then you can maybe go for a jog during lunch, and maybe a jog/cycle for coming to and from work. Not to mention naps for people who get that noon slump.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if having such facilities, and allowing for naps, would have a measurably positive effect on the work environment. Assuming of course that the people who work there are willing to and wanting to use such facilities.
Some people might be very active and healthy in their free time, but I wonder if allowing for more healthy habits during those 8 hour stretches of often very sedentary work would even be a boost for those people.
Re: Ending the open office epidemic
#27office -> cube -> open floor plan -> next? what can be even worse than the open floor? Transparent floors? No walls at all? I'm sure in a few years we'll know.
Pair programming.
Pair programming with daily shame meetings where you have to justify your job by how much work you did yesterday.
Re: Ending the open office epidemic
#28"As a company grows, the cost of restructuring an office to accommodate more people in different layouts is time consuming and expensive. By having desks in an open plan and telephone rooms for quiet time, the idea is that you can solve the cost and flexibility problems while still offering a quiet place to retreat if needed. From a growth perspective this is smart. If I planned to add 30 employees to our office in t…
I still prefer to just stay home when I have to actually get stuff done. Offices are weird. It's not even about open or not. But I can only be really productive if I'm completely alone.
+1 million
Really hard problem that needs to be solved real fast? Call me on my cell phone if a fire breaks out, otherwise see ya tomorrow.
If I had a private room (or even a cube on a quiet floor) I'd stay at the office instead.
Re: Ending the open office epidemic
#29I remember the library at my university being excellent at getting me in the "flow". It's not so much about "open office vs private office" as it is the expectation in those places. I'm toying with the idea of recreating a library-like environment that is super quiet and zen-like, but not limited in number of people. Go there for flow-type work. On the flip side, have a cafe-like environment for animated collaboratio…
I had the same revelation in an actually quiet library v. libraries co-opted by study groups.
The first time I studied in a quiet library, I was blown away by my ability to sustain a flow state. The atmosphere, the minimalism and reduced distractions helped tremendously. That said, I had to keep my guard up and avoid falling into a routine of "going to the library" with the expectation of GTD automagically. To that end, I would consciously sit in different places (to mix things up) and make sure I had a To Do list which I worked through.
Edit: Another key revelation is the expectation that if someone needs to make/take a call, it was expected for that person to step OUT of the room. Remarkably, this was the status quo.
Re: Ending the open office epidemic
#30Agreed. I don't get it, why are they so popular? Some psychologists came up with this lame idea and now everyone runs to implement it. Crowded open spaces are distracting any time you need to concentrate. They impose a feeling of a factory and monotonous work.