Once accustomed to working in home office in your PJs, it's very hard to contemplate going back to commuting to, parking at, and working in a noisy, stinky office.
The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)
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Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)
#32The best work setup I've ever had by far was not private offices or cubicles (and definitely not an open office); it was a hybrid where our team of 3-5 people sat in a large private office. This increased collaboration while enforcing respect. It allowed our team to create a work culture democratically (how do we arrange seating? what noise levels are ok?) that simply isn't possible in an open seating arrangement.
I know this won't be popular here, but I find private offices problematic for a few reasons. First, they hurt collaboration and social interaction quite a bit. This is ok from a single developer's perspective (heavily skewed audience on HN), but it shows on cross-functional teams. I know this can be hacked into a private office setup ("my door is always open"), but in my experience there is a clear difference in collaboration when there is no physical separation between people who are working on a project together. Also, private offices create a hierarchy where some people get big corner window offices while others are in shitty interior offices or cubicles. My favorite thing about the trend towards open offices has been an egalitarianism where the CEO and founders sits at a similar desk as the interns.
Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)
#33I think archaeologists studying us in a few thousand years are going to be so fucking confused by this discussion. Offices? Why?
It will seem more bizarre and alien to them than the Salem witch trials seem to us.
Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)
#34Open or not, doesn't matter that much, IMHO. What is very important for me is a distraction free environment, no noise, no visual distractions.
Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)
#35But they told us if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear
Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)
#36Despite what every open office critic says, it's very possible to be productive at work in an environment that is not designed to meet their very exacting needs.
You're not painting the Mona Lisa, you're working on some app or spreadsheet. It's called work for a reason. Learn to make do.
Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)
#37My office is switching to an open design. And none of the people who work there are happy about it. It was decided by the folks who own the company, several thousand miles away. I think the real allure of open offices is how they look. Open offices look modern . They look like the kind of working area a hip, young, collaborative, industry-disrupting company would favor. But that's all bullshit. It's just a fairy tale…
That makes no sense. The non open-offices I had were all much better looking.
Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)
#38I understand that in practical terms giving every employee their own private office might be unrealistic. I would love to just sit in a smaller room with my immediate team/subteam.
Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)
#39I think open office is great for certain roles and not so much for certain occupations. For writer in this article having a private room is better because it takes a lot of focus and comfort to write. But in all fairness, I agree open office can become a diaster. Where I work now we have an open office settings but we are small and we don't have a long table sharing with a dozen coworkers. I think density is importan…
I especially agree with the part about density. I feel like when upper management hears about how open offices promote group collaboration, they imagine all of their teams working in the same room together in close proximity, when really the benefit mostly comes from being close with people from your team. When done incorrectly it starts looking less like an open office and more like a boiler room.
Re: The open-office trend is destroying the workplace (2014)
#40I suspect that google knows this, had made a calculation that the downsides are worth the real estate cost, and is spinning it in a more positive light.
Why pay $300k+ a year for a developer then just to go and save a few hundred a month on real estate costs, sacrificing some percentage of productivity?
I imagine most are not making 300k. Also, like many things Google does, I'm guessing it's partially because scaling is becoming an issue.
It takes a while to get a space ready, and it's also not easy to just expand around existing offices when they're already quite large.
Admittedly, much of this would probably be solved if they were more OK with remote working, as there's a high emphasis on in person collaboration. I suspect they've done some studies on this matter though.
I work for Google but opinions are my own.