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I like popping on my headphones and going to town... but I'll admit, distractions often overcome even my headphones. That's where working from home comes in.
OK maybe I just need to learn to look at the link.
Theory: open space fosters communication, because you can easily engage in discussion with others. Reality: everybody is sitting with their headphones on. The only way to get their attention is via Slack or by throwing objects at them.
In the academia, where good communication and idea sharing are essential, there are no open offices. Said communication happens where it ought to be: in rec room or cafeteria.
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The mechanical keyboard people in open offices bother me.
I recently got one and I admit it's really loud. But this shouldn't be an issue in a decent workplace. I have several guys near me who have loud voices and talk a lot. That's worse than a loud keyboard. Open office plans are the problem, not keyboards or loud people.
I agree with you that open office plans are the problem, but your keyboard makes that problem worse.
Individual contributors want private offices. Companies want "openness and collaboration". As I've been at WeWorks lately, I've noticed that they have all glass walls on the offices. This means that everybody has natural light and a sense of openness, but with a locking door and quiet. A more general question to people in such all-glass private offices - is it the best of both worlds? Or, is more privacy needed than…
I think it's a reasonable trade-off. It attempts to give the best of both worlds, incorporating one advantage of open office spaces is there is more team motivation because it's more obvious if you are slacking.
> The lofty building Jordan Hamad moved his tech-advisory firm into four years ago had the trappings of a startup idyll: open floor plan, polished concrete floors , custom-built communal tables. Decisions like this make me seriously question the whole idea that our economy is populated by rational actors. Obviously polished concrete floors are a terrible idea in an office. Even if you believe that open plan works, th…
Markets are efficient, not rational.
> The lofty building Jordan Hamad moved his tech-advisory firm into four years ago had the trappings of a startup idyll: open floor plan, polished concrete floors , custom-built communal tables. Decisions like this make me seriously question the whole idea that our economy is populated by rational actors. Obviously polished concrete floors are a terrible idea in an office. Even if you believe that open plan works, th…
Depends on the other surfaces. If the ceiling is hang tiles, rough wood, or fabric panels, there is such thing as too well damped. Most rooms have a happy zone of about 30-60% reflectivity. More sounds like a bathroom, but less can be equally unnerving to people. Also, polished concrete is ubiq due to it being cheap, easy, and looking decent for a long time. That 4x4 carpet is not much better, and is the similarly pr…
Incidentally, Steelcase CEO Jim Hackett quoted in this article was just named CEO of Ford.
But also note that the Steelcase CEO's quotes are shaped to help sell their office pod systems. He's really not going to share his personal preferences, he's going to push their product.
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Markets are efficient, not rational.
I think it's clear they are more rational than efficient, and perfect at neither.
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I would take a 10% paycut to have a small office that fits 2 monitors, a filing cabinet and some pictures, rather then dealing with constant clattering of the guy behind me that decided converting a type writer into a digital keyboard was a good idea.
I have all that, and the best part is I don't need to commute. :) Working remotely is perfect.