June 2, 2010 at 6:37 am
I have long been a proponent of a box with a door on it rather than the "open concept" that seems to be so popular with management.
This seems to be because it allows them to lay out an office without any real thought or planning because "you can change them around don't you know". Of course this proves impractical because the wiring is pretty permanent.
I have also long suspected that this is a conspiracy launched by office furniture companies. "I mean, why pay tradesmen to put up walls and doors when you can buy them from us? True, they don't reach to the ceiling and they don't keep any noise out, but we need this income and we can sell you a desk and chair at the same time. If you are concerned about noise, we do have this fancy white noise system we can bundle in!"
The business schools are also a part of this, suggesting on "empirical evidence" that it promotes teamwork and collaboration. What it does is allow managers (who invariably have closed offices at the perimeter of the cube farm) to overlook their charges a la 19th century industrial sweatshop.
I myself insisted upon an office with a door when I joined this company but I have to travel to head office every so often and am amazed at the constant interruptions and chaos of the cube farms there.
June 2, 2010 at 7:05 am
When I worked at M&M Mars, they had an open floor plan that was quite noisy (and a beagle). Part of the problem was that there were no walls at all, not even cubes. Another was that most of the people on the floor weren't IT, they were people who's job it was to be on the phone all day or holding meeting after meeting at their desk. The desks were arranged in a pinwheel pattern, my boss sat at the desk next to me, facing my left. I got so good at ignoring all the noise around me that she frequently had to yell or kick my desk to get my attention.
Cubes help minimize the noise, offices more so, but whatever the layout the people around you and the density of people makes a big difference. I'm at a desk now that is in a hybrid area. I'm in an open floor with 2 other people, nearby are tall, wooden cubes and enclosed offices. Part of the difference is that there are few people, another is that they're all IT.
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June 2, 2010 at 7:48 am
I prefer offices with doors on them. You can shut the door when the open community areas get a little too noisy, particularly with non-work conversations. In open areas you are kind of at the mercy of this kind of thing. Unless of course you want to speak up and risk getting outcasted. In open areas young IT people particularly for some reason tend to get into throwing contests on Friday afternoons. I have been hit in the back of the head with a mini-football on more that one occasion while trying to get work done. Again, if you say anything, you are the one that tends to get ostracized for doing so. Work areas, are exactly that, work areas. They are not recreation areas, or gymnasiums. Give me an office anyday with a door on it. 😀
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
June 2, 2010 at 7:52 am
In the last position I held (ProIV Programmer), we were set up in 'bullpens' of like minded developers, 4 to a 'pen'. This was OK because everyone was working on the same platform and we all had headphones. 🙂 Then we went Agile, and they expanded the bullpen to hold 9 people: 3 web developers, 2 ProIV developers, 3 QA Analysts and 1 Business Analyst.
It was chaotic. Nine people make a lot of noise, and when someone was sick, everyone got sick. Of course, management crafted the idea with no input from the 36 IT people affected. We had programmers who would rather be mushrooms and others (like me) who enjoyed the camraderie. Although I liked the interaction, it was nearly impossible to get any real development work done because there was ALWAYS an interruption. (and we were Agile...;-) ) I also only had 48" of linear desk space TOTAL, just enough for my PC and monitors. I really felt like an expendable cog in the wheel. We lost 5 quality IT professionals (and me 😉 ) within 3 months of this implementation.
I moved on to this position where I have a cube and may not talk to anyone for 9 hours. Hmmmm...I would probably enjoy something in between....I still want to develop from a wireless connection outside. EVERYTHING I do right now can be acomplished from a smart phone.
June 2, 2010 at 8:23 am
Our place has tried several layouts. A few years back they did a lot of low divider cubes, and I worked there for a while. I hated it. Distractions were constant, you don't realize how much even the simple high divider helps you mentally block out distractions and other user's phone calls.
The 'collaboration space' sounds nice on paper, it's horrible in real life.
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-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
June 3, 2010 at 2:20 am
Open offices are a completely unproductive and idiotic idea. Give me a closed door office all the time.
Check this out.
June 3, 2010 at 9:37 am
The open space might not work for you, but it's worked well for me at times. It's not completely unproductive. Joel thinks so, and they built their space differently: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BionicOffice.html
However another company that I respect, and that is highly productive, went with open spaces: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2339-the-new-office-the-idea-and-the-floor-plan
June 3, 2010 at 11:13 am
I have worked in huge communal rooms (or bullpens as I like to call them) like this and the cacophony is at times very disruptive. Particularly, when you are trying to concentrate on an important project and are on a deadline. I'll take an office with a door any day of the week over a loud bullpen. 😀
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
June 3, 2010 at 11:59 am
I like the 37 signals approach. Open when you need it, quiet space when you need it. It's always nice to have the 'theater' room for presentations. Nicely done.
June 4, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Having made the change between office space types, I would say that it is an adjustment that needs to be made. When moving into a morgue, it can sometimes be difficult to get anything done because there is no distraction of collaboration. Personally, I think there needs to be noise and collaboration.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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June 7, 2010 at 6:53 am
CirquedeSQLeil (6/4/2010)
Having made the change between office space types, I would say that it is an adjustment that needs to be made. When moving into a morgue, it can sometimes be difficult to get anything done because there is no distraction of collaboration. Personally, I think there needs to be noise and collaboration.
Having actually worked in a morgue in the distant past, it was not the noise, (or lack of it) that was an issue. It was the smell. 😀
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
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