High-performance employees need quieter work spaces • Hacker News Board

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#91

Post by mathogre » Wed, Mar 22, 2017, 8:40 PM UTC

I work an odd schedule that includes 10 hours on Saturday. I could work from home on Saturday, but almost always work from the office as I've got the place to myself (bad weather notwithstanding). It means driving 30 minutes each way, as well as everything else with going out to work. The peace and quiet is priceless as I've got an essentially empty 6 floor building all to myself. Security passes by once or twice during the day. Generally there are no phone calls, no meetings, no messages, no one stopping by to interrupt me. I can go on a think walk and - get this - think.

If instead I work from home on Saturday, I am interrupted each time I leave my "cave" to get a coffee. Sometimes it's my daughter, sometimes my wife. The phone will invariably ring and will either be a spam call or a call for one of them. There is no opportunity for a think walk.

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#92

Post by khedoros1 » Wed, Mar 22, 2017, 8:43 PM UTC

drcongo wrote: post #17

I find it very odd that these articles make the front page of HN on an almost daily basis. I'm currently working at home with twin toddlers with chicken pox playing at full volume, yet I'm having little trouble concentrating. Why do techs seem to obsess over this so much?

I struggle working from home; my toddler's in a screaming phase. It's only slightly better listening to the PM team doing conference calls, hearing the one-sided conversation about product features.

My team used to be clustered into a corner of the building. Pairs worked quietly, louder teams weren't around to bother us, etc. It wasn't quite as nice as actual offices, but it was pretty close.

A full-on open plan office sounds terrible. Working most days with kiddos playing sounds terrible (when I work from home, I get most of my work done during his nap and after his bedtime). Working in cubes near noisy teams isn't great. Working in cubes secluded from noisy teams is fairly nice. I think I'd like to work in a team office to allow easy collaboration, while keeping away distractions.

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#93

Post by greedo » Wed, Mar 22, 2017, 8:43 PM UTC

throwaywgsid wrote: post #22

The most obvious and effective sounding way to divide offices is per-team. That way groups of people working on the same thing can talk easily. My current company has every dev and most managers in the same room. 7 scrum teams, over 60 people in one room. It's madness and I can't fucking stand the noise. You get written up for talking "excessively" during work hours because 3/4 the company can hear you when you try t…

I work in a team of 12. The idea of having all of us in one room would result in several homicides. Even with cubicle walls, in the past, homicide has been a course of action contemplated by most of the team.

This idea the groups need to be able to talk easily is just idiotic. We're not in kindergarten sharing what our cats did or why the sky is blue, we're professionals working on complex tasks. Written communication is abundant, whether it's chat/slack/irc/email/remedyforce etc. If anything, we're drowning in communication. Comprehension is the issue.

So screw working side by side in pair programming, or such crap. It's all a part of companies that view employees as a cost center, or a "resource" to be managed, like you would a herd of cattle.

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#94

Post by buxtehude » Wed, Mar 22, 2017, 8:46 PM UTC

mason240 wrote: post #19

solaris_7 wrote: post #8

The obsession for open plan offices continues to amaze me. Companies that invest huge amounts in staffing and other strategic programmes don't seem to spend much time challenging the default suggestion that 'openness = collaboration'. This article mentions high performance employees - but most knowledge workers (designers, programmers etc.) that I know all struggle with open plan office environments irrespective of t…

Our company is currently relocating to new office, and they want an open office plan in the space. We will pack in tight, and our cube walls will all be 3.5 feet high. We have adjustable standing desks that will coming with us, so when standing we will towering over every one and I already know it's going to be awkward for me. The best part is our 5 person IT team will be right next to 25 people who work phones for c…

Hope you have a very big monitor and a good noise canceling headset. Otherwise get ready for a coding/interrupt cycle that will drain all your productivity (unless you start staying late to make up for it). Good luck.

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#95

Post by jrs235 » Wed, Mar 22, 2017, 8:51 PM UTC

taurath wrote: post #41

organsnyder wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The collaborative nature of my open office environment helps me to generate tons of great ideas that I'll never have the focus to implement.

Why don't you just stay late or come in early, don't you care about the company?!!

9-5 is office hours. Be ready and willing to respond to any requests. When you get the actual assigned ans scheduled out work done is your problem. Perhaps you should work late, at home, at night, in the morning before "office hours".

Drives me effing nuts! Salaried exempt doesn't mean slave labor. It means the work I do requires thinking and since I am always thinking it makes more sense to just pay me a predetermined amount instead of going hourly and trying to figure out if I should be compensated for the commute to and from the office when some of my greatest ideas and innovations occur. God forbid my idea comes while not on the clock! I might not choose to assign the IP over to you! I still only anticipate implementing ideas and performing tasks for approximately 40 hours per week. You're paying for my brains not my key pushing skills.

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#96

Post by bradstewart » Wed, Mar 22, 2017, 9:08 PM UTC

officelineback wrote: post #74

bradstewart wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had this setup at my previous company and it was truly fantastic.

Are you allowed to name names?

I don't see why not: Silicon Labs in Austin. All of the company's office space isn't setup like this, but my floor was.

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#97

Post by WorldMaker » Wed, Mar 22, 2017, 9:19 PM UTC

nsxwolf wrote: post #64

st3v3r wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because workers have seen their rights and their station in life vastly eroded over the past 30-40 years.

But seriously, if I ran a company and set up the office that way, and a bunch of people came up to me and said "Hey man, this office layout is bullshit", I'd say OK and get on the phone and order some cubes. It really shouldn't be a big deal.

But you spent a lot of money last year on consultants that hyped you up on the creative and innovative energy that open plans bring and your CFO made a nice spreadsheet on how much you save on office furniture versus the cost of a new yacht. Who are you going to believe, your sunk cost friends or your ongoing cost employees that should be much more grateful to even have a job in this economy?~

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#98

Post by chrisbennet » Wed, Mar 22, 2017, 9:51 PM UTC

gozur88 wrote: post #85

ratsz wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be lucky you have cube walls. Many open plans don't even have those!

3.5 feet is barely higher than a desk (a normal one). That's like leaving your waiter a penny tip.

Yeah, but at least people can't see your junk on "wear a kilt to work" day...

I get that for a startup money is tight. Instead of telling employees:

"You folks really deserve a your own offices but we just can't afford it."

Instead they tell you the big lie; that they are doing it because it "increases collaboration".

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#99

Post by Balgair » Wed, Mar 22, 2017, 11:20 PM UTC

iamacynic wrote: post #48

throwaywgsid wrote: post #22

The most obvious and effective sounding way to divide offices is per-team. That way groups of people working on the same thing can talk easily. My current company has every dev and most managers in the same room. 7 scrum teams, over 60 people in one room. It's madness and I can't fucking stand the noise. You get written up for talking "excessively" during work hours because 3/4 the company can hear you when you try t…

uh well, you still work there don't you? that's why. because it's cheaper and you still need the paycheck.

Literally, the entire thread in a nutshell. Bravo.

Re: High-performance employees need quieter work spaces

#100

Post by madphrodite » Wed, Mar 22, 2017, 11:24 PM UTC

One open plan work environment story. One and only. Lasted three months there. Noisy, smelly (kitchen nearby), and the head counters would come by every couple hours to see who was at their seat and who wasn't. You don't have to be uber employee to fail to appreciate the master plan and want out of this type of thing.