It bums me out some to see the standard-bearer for private offices in our profession showing us floor-to-ceiling glass walls in a panopticon arc, "not as creepy as you think"[1]. The Overton window's shifted so far to the cage-free side that privacy isn't even in our frame? OK, a few companies still believe in offices with walls. I don't doubt that it's a fine place to work, likely nicer than the cubicles I've worked…
I actually really like the glass windows, though blinds or a bit of frosting would be nice, but they make excellent places to scribble thoughts.
One thing I don't understand -- in this time of laptops, tablets and ubiquitous internet access (whether in-office wi-fi or the mobile broadband), why do we still have this discussion? Are there any companies out there who have a heterogeneous office layout, with open-space areas, single-person rooms and anything in between which could then be used by anyone to their own preference? I would like to see a setup where…
Have you actually worked in an environment like that? In my experience, hoteling as the only option is deeply unpleasant. People like to have a single place to go. They like to have a desk they can personalize. They like to have a place they can leave their stuff overnight. If you only provide hoteling, I think the majority of people will just claim a desk as theirs, and you effectively have no hoteling at all.
Yeah, I really dislike hoteling, because I'm not in an office - I'm in a weird office display space, like you'd find in Office Depot or Ikea. If you're giving me space, give me space I can decorate and make my own.
So what other software companies have private offices?
In addition to Stack Exchange, Microsoft was mentioned.
When I worked as a developer at Carnegie Mellon, I had an office shared with one or two other people (which was a nice perk, given the pay was much lower than industry).
It bums me out some to see the standard-bearer for private offices in our profession showing us floor-to-ceiling glass walls in a panopticon arc, "not as creepy as you think"[1]. The Overton window's shifted so far to the cage-free side that privacy isn't even in our frame? OK, a few companies still believe in offices with walls. I don't doubt that it's a fine place to work, likely nicer than the cubicles I've worked…
So just lean a bunch of folded cardboard boxes against the glass.
It bums me out some to see the standard-bearer for private offices in our profession showing us floor-to-ceiling glass walls in a panopticon arc, "not as creepy as you think"[1]. The Overton window's shifted so far to the cage-free side that privacy isn't even in our frame? OK, a few companies still believe in offices with walls. I don't doubt that it's a fine place to work, likely nicer than the cubicles I've worked…
I work in an open space (when I'm in the office), and the uncomfortable feeling of people walking by and glancing at my screen is the main reason I dislike working in the open.
The panopticon metaphor is apt - I feel uncomfortable taking well-deserved minute-long breaks when I have no privacy.
I'm reminded of an old Dilbert comic--which I can't seem to find online--where the CEO or consultant is hailed as visionary by alternately proposing "centralize everything which is decentralized" and "decentralize everything which is centralized." I guess that could be applied to physical space...
I believe it's a page from Build a Better Life by Stealing Office Supplies , not an actual strip.
I'm quite certain there was--if not a full strip--at least an illustration involving the the CEO... Not the now-staple pointy-haired manager, but the heavily-jowled guy who's been supplanted by the bullet-headed CEO in recent years.
Each time, a diagram is behind him, either of a hub-and-spoke diagram or a spread-out cloud of nodes.
One thing I don't understand -- in this time of laptops, tablets and ubiquitous internet access (whether in-office wi-fi or the mobile broadband), why do we still have this discussion? Are there any companies out there who have a heterogeneous office layout, with open-space areas, single-person rooms and anything in between which could then be used by anyone to their own preference? I would like to see a setup where…
You might equally ask why don't we all work remotely?
(Disclaimer: I work remotely, in a team of > 50% remote workers, and believe it works very well)
Am I the only one that considers lunch to be a sacred, personal time that I don't want to spend on small talk with coworkers? I need my lunch break to recover from the day's stress and pace, so I can come back refreshed and ready to code for 4-5 more hours. As an introvert, I find the team lunches to be waay more stressful than actual work, and that eliminates any benefits of a nicely cooked meal. If I end up in a te…
There is another possibility, that all offices are fundamentally flawed creations designed not to foster work so much as to create a dynamic of control. When you pay someone and you control both their place and time for over 1/3 of their daily life, there are inherent problems. I'm not sure that any office plan is ever going to be super ideal because of the fundamental problems of power and control that come with an…
Businesses exist to make money, not just to give people in power a place to harumph about. More productivity IS important, because without that, businesses are losing out on potential income, and that's not what businesses like to do.
> Businesses exist to make money
That's the perspective of the owner at the very top.
> just to give people in power a place to harumph about