Every now and then, it's time to stop concluding that you're right, and start to ask why nothing has changed. The data at this point seems overwhelming that op

Every now and then, it's time to stop concluding that you're right, and start to ask why nothing has changed. The data at this point seems overwhelming that open offices are bad for health, stress, productivity, and personal happiness, and they don't save a whole lot of money. So why are they still around, and how can this be changed? That's the article I'd love to read, though the issues go very deep. PG was certainly right in an essay from years ago where he concludes that private offices are really used to denote rank in a company, rather than to provide people with a quiet space for productive work. My own experience at Sun Microsystems a long time back was a good one. They had drop in centers with quiet rooms and loud rooms. Loud rooms had phones, quiet rooms didn't. None of it wouldn't have mattered without enforcement - every now and then, someone who did a lot of work on the phone (never a developer, they always took phone calls outside) would try to use the cell at a desk, figuring it was "ok" as long as they kept it short and used mildly hushed tones. Nope. The office manager, who didn't care who they were or if they liked her, enforced the rules. That could work, while preserving the rank/status qualities to offices that are important to other elements of an organization.