It's because you see so many people that you want to retract a bit and not have to directly deal with them...
Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
61–70 of 79 posts
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
What experience has ever led you to believe that what software engineers like or dislike factors into how their work environments are set up? The Important People consider us, at best, a necessary nuisance.
I’ve seen the open plan sold as what engineers are asking for, but anecdotally I don’t see them asking for that, so I wonder what drives it. Does it attract people right out of college? (if so, it would be important for recruiting?)
It's cheap.
... at least in the short term (less building costs), but more expensive in the long term (less productivity, less happy employees).
The decision makers don't seem to care.
My company changed to an open office right before selling. It was a short-term money-making decision.
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#63Honestly this article comes as no surprise. I work for a company that not only has an open plan office, but no assigned seating either. It's honestly the worst, mostly because I like to have my own environment at work. I can't bring in my keyboard or any of my other stuff, and as corny as it is i can't even bring in photos to keep at my desk since there's no assigned seating! As much as i like open spaces, i miss at…
Our negotiating position as engineers is way too good to put up with shit like this. I have savings precisely so that I can walk off the job the instant hot desking is announced.
Now that i'm finally moving up the engineering ranks, i'm starting to stockpile money too. As soon as i get through these cert exams over the next month, it's game on.
Give me my desk!! my keyboard!! my monitors!!
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#64The biggest downside of an open office for is that I type really fast and loud on a mechanical keyboard some of my colleges are bothered by. But other people find the noise relaxing, so maybe I need to just have all the loud clackers get together in a single room.
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some people can work even though they get interrupted and disturbed all day, others are very averse to being distracted and try to reach deep work or get in the zone. The problem with an open office is the first group.
And some people don't want to work any more than they absolutely have to, and can't understand why anyone would want to be able to concentrate.
True example of the above:
I had been given a task by my manager, in such a way that my coworkers could hear that it was something important I had to get done ASAP.
Half an hour later, I'm heads down working, with earphones in. Very obviously coding. Coworker taps me on the shoulder. "Yes?" "Why aren't you chatting with us?"
I'd like to say I made some clever remark, but at the time I was speechless.
(Please note that I do engage in normal small talk at other times. )
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree with the opinions of this comment, but I'm glad you made your opinion and your experience heard. Even when for most people an open office works worse, for some people it is preferable new people: please don't down vote people just because you disagree.
Chiming in to say I also disagree with the opinion and to make the same request to downvotes==disagree button. I would like to ask another question though, how does the community feel about people who talk to themselves when they're focused? I find myself doing that at home a lot when working and I really do perform focused tasks significantly better. "Aha, this is a bit stupid" "So, if I move this here it'll be more…
> I would like to ask another question though, how does the community feel about people who talk to themselves when they're focused?
There's a special place in hell for those people :). Even worse when they are whispering or mumbling.
It's really the same as talking on the phone: my brain is hijacked because it only has a side of the conversation.
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Chiming in to say I also disagree with the opinion and to make the same request to downvotes==disagree button. I would like to ask another question though, how does the community feel about people who talk to themselves when they're focused? I find myself doing that at home a lot when working and I really do perform focused tasks significantly better. "Aha, this is a bit stupid" "So, if I move this here it'll be more…
You and me both. I constantly berate myself outloud and hate myself for what it must do to my neighbor who's too considerate to say something, or not considerate enough to bitch to my manager so I could turn this into a remote job.
Please, stop hating and berating yourself. Or do it in silence :).
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you also do this when the 'conversation' is just you making statements about yourself that serve no purpose other than providing you with the pleasure of making statements about yourself?
Not sure what you are talking about ? The poster I'm replying to is about face-to-face conversation with other teammate
Apologies for being a bit snarky, but I found your comment to not really add much to the conversation because it just pointed out that you do not personally suffer from the problems that the person you responded to does.
That, combined with the fact that you don't seem to care how your open-office talk might affect others, reminded me of the various "that guys/gals" that I've encountered in my open-office experiences. They'd regularly annoy or interrupt everyone else in the room by having no consideration, self-awareness and/or sensitivity, and usually they'd do so for the worst reason: talking about themselves. The inane shit they were up to in the weekend, or the funny YouTube video that you just have to watch awkwardly.
But again, my apologies for projecting that on you, because obviously I have no idea if any of this applies. It just reminded me of something that ruined open-offices for me.
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#69Honestly this article comes as no surprise. I work for a company that not only has an open plan office, but no assigned seating either. It's honestly the worst, mostly because I like to have my own environment at work. I can't bring in my keyboard or any of my other stuff, and as corny as it is i can't even bring in photos to keep at my desk since there's no assigned seating! As much as i like open spaces, i miss at…
One of my previous employers had an open-plan office, and after a management change introduced mandatory hotdesking. You had to move desks every day -- management checked every morning and wrote people up if they sat at the same desk for two consecutive days. Then they introduced a mandatory uniform and a complete ban on personal items -- all the Wallace and Gromit coffee mugs, the photos of family disappeared overni…
Did you work in a Terry Gilliam movie? Was this in the USA? It sounds dystopic.
Re: Open-plan offices reduce face-to-face interactions (2018)
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure what you are talking about ? The poster I'm replying to is about face-to-face conversation with other teammate
Apologies for being a bit snarky, but I found your comment to not really add much to the conversation because it just pointed out that you do not personally suffer from the problems that the person you responded to does. That, combined with the fact that you don't seem to care how your open-office talk might affect others, reminded me of the various "that guys/gals" that I've encountered in my open-office experiences…
>They'd regularly annoy or interrupt everyone else in the room by having no consideration, self-awareness and/or sensitivity, and usually they'd do so for the worst reason: talking about themselves
I understand that, the trick for me is to not let myself to be negatively affected by that, in other words, I make myself to filter out/ignore all those stuff. Its a useful skill to have.