I think googles own Eric Schmidt had the best response to this. If open office's were bad for buisness or destroying the workspace the free market would bear that out. There are tangable benefits which is why companies move towards it. I understand some people hate it, but most don't so why do we keep getting the same articles every few months saying the same thing. We get it _you_ don't like the open office space others do. I am sorry your not able to have the office the way you like it, I am upset that no one else seems to like TV shows I find enjoyable and they keep getting canceled.
Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace
61–70 of 165 posts
Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace
#62I'll play contrarian for a moment: the most productive office I've ever worked in was an open office layout. What worked for us: * Separate clusters by function / noise level -- We didn't put sales people and developers next to one another. People who spent all day on the phone were near other people who spent all day on the phone. * Keep clusters small -- We had 4 person "pods" of desks for most of our early lifecyc…
I'd like to add something about how the quality of your employees affects the outcome of the open office arrangement.
If you work with a bunch of thoughtful people, of course they are going to respect flow. And they're going to realize when their personal habits affect the people around them. Even gregarious extroverts will be quiet in a library like atmosphere, and move their conversations to a kitchen or break out room
The open office allows people to split into sub teams and to work together on projects more fluidly than an arrangement where people have strong physical barriers to moving.
But it's a sort of environment that comes together as the sum of its parts. Forcing an open environment into a shitty company with shitty employees will likely make it worse.
Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace
#63Open offices are type A/extroverted personality wet dreams. Everybody they need is within earshot and they can see EVERYTHING so they can properly control everything. However for introverts, people with noise sensitivity, or people with ADD this is an absolute nightmare. I find a lot of engineers tend to be either introverts or have some type of manageable ADD so it doesn't surprise me that many people would be negat…
I don't feel this way at all, and judging from the number of similar comments that popped up while writing this, I don't think I'm in the minority either. Why can't an introvert put on headphones or simply disregard irrelevant conversations in an open office? Why do type A extroverts feel the need to control things they happen to be nearby?
Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace
#64Open office is by no means a new thing Google invented. It existed a long, long time ago.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/04/23/opinion/23rfd...
Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace
#65I'll play contrarian for a moment: the most productive office I've ever worked in was an open office layout. What worked for us: * Separate clusters by function / noise level -- We didn't put sales people and developers next to one another. People who spent all day on the phone were near other people who spent all day on the phone. * Keep clusters small -- We had 4 person "pods" of desks for most of our early lifecyc…
This needs to be said more. I absolutely love being in an open office layout because it allows for easy collaboration as well as the occasional spontaneous fun interruption. People seem to get hung up on the interruptions as if they lose tons and tons of productivity. I just haven't experienced issues like that personally. I find that the interruptions are a welcome break to the monotony of staring at code for 8 hour…
"occasional spontaneous fun interruptions"
I would prefer to choose when to have my interruptions.
Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace
#66At some point, open-offices will be the only thing that the majority of software developers know. If you've never experienced the productivity that comes from being able to think without interruption, you won't know what you are missing. At that point, the trend will probably be irreversible. For me personally, this trend isn't all bad: When I work someplace with this setup it's kind of nice to "hang out with my frie…
Anyone who masters deep concentration will become good :-)
Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace
#67I think googles own Eric Schmidt had the best response to this. If open office's were bad for buisness or destroying the workspace the free market would bear that out. There are tangable benefits which is why companies move towards it. I understand some people hate it, but most don't so why do we keep getting the same articles every few months saying the same thing. We get it _you_ don't like the open office space ot…
It's cheaper and the lost benefits of private offices don't show up on any spreadsheet.
Which is not to say that they aren't there, it's just that private offices are not investable, so they won't happen any more.
I wonder if Eric Schmidt believes that great art will be produced by the most efficient market, or if he thinks that breakthrough science will come out of the most popular lab?
Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace
#68Open offices are type A/extroverted personality wet dreams. Everybody they need is within earshot and they can see EVERYTHING so they can properly control everything. However for introverts, people with noise sensitivity, or people with ADD this is an absolute nightmare. I find a lot of engineers tend to be either introverts or have some type of manageable ADD so it doesn't surprise me that many people would be negat…
I don't feel this way at all, and judging from the number of similar comments that popped up while writing this, I don't think I'm in the minority either. Why can't an introvert put on headphones or simply disregard irrelevant conversations in an open office? Why do type A extroverts feel the need to control things they happen to be nearby?
"Why can't an introvert put on headphones or simply disregard irrelevant conversations"
The whole point with the office (for me) is to provide an environment to maximize developer output of value.
I do not need to serendeptiously eavesdrop on every discussion on the floor with 40 people to provide maximum ouput. What I do need, is quiet.
Vice versa it is fair to ask why cant the people who yearn extra stimulus to install disco lights in their offices and play some bazar tape from their headphones :)
Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
This needs to be said more. I absolutely love being in an open office layout because it allows for easy collaboration as well as the occasional spontaneous fun interruption. People seem to get hung up on the interruptions as if they lose tons and tons of productivity. I just haven't experienced issues like that personally. I find that the interruptions are a welcome break to the monotony of staring at code for 8 hour…
"occasional spontaneous fun interruptions" I would prefer to choose when to have my interruptions.
Then it's not spontaneous. Hell, if you choose it it's not even an interruption.
Re: Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace
#70Open office + headphones was the best place work space for me, one big reason for me to have a job is to be surrounded by people and feel that I'm part of a team, otherwise I could just work from home instead of a stupid cubicle that makes me feel like a gear in a big machinery.