4 ms·

No one believes me when I tell them this, but open offices are 99% of the reason why I work remotely. I honestly could never understand it.

mlvljr 10y ago
You are not alone :)
peejaybee 10y ago
It's easy to understand. Open plan offices have the advantage of being cheaper, and the disadvantage of harming productivity. The cost savings are immediately apparent and easily attributed. Productivity hits (or gains) come later, are harder to assign a utility to, and are harder to attribute.
- smikhanov 10y ago
  My theory is that productivity hits are much smaller than we developers tend to think (as awful as it sounds). I elaborate more on that in http://www.mikhanov.com/2015/06/08/open-plan-offices-creativity-and-programming-429 http://www.mikhanov.com/2015/06/08/open-plan-offices-creativ...
  - blub 10y ago
    Your theory is, to put it bluntly, wrong. Maybe it applies to people slapping together node.js libraries, but otherwise developers need a working environment in which they can focus. Creativity is not only about innovating at the bleeding edge, but also coming up with effective solutions, optimisation, designing software, organising code, etc. A lot of software development is creative work. Besides, not being able to focus will also lead to increased stress levels, overlooking bugs and decreased productivity.
- a3n 10y ago
  I think these kinds of decisions, including recognized reduction of productivity, has to do with how desks and offices are taxed and depreciated, what has to be written into accounts, and the fact that death marches are free.
- ThrustVectoring 10y ago
  IMO, the fact that they're cheaper is only a justification. After all, most places are open-office rather than remote. The big reason why management likes open office is, in my opinion, that those environments make them feel like they've got more oversight and control.
  - georgeecollins 10y ago
    I agree it isn't the cost. It's mostly that you can see what everybody is doing. If you don't have management or processes you trust, and a lot of new employees, you worry that you will have some kind of bad behavior. Also that its easy to move people around, which you do a lot when you are growing. I work at a startup with open offices (my second) and the absenteeism blows me away. I really believe it is because the office is an unpleasant place to work. But hey, we have ping pong tables!
contingencies 10y ago
About 70% here. 30% is commuting.
stock_toaster 10y ago
I believe you, because I feel exactly the same way -- I work remotely because I find open office plans very distracting.
jon-wood 10y ago
Initially I did it to avoid the commute, but it's increasingly a way to get a private office where I can actually get work done. Having said that I still find the occasional visits to the office a valuable thing, but I approach with the understanding that I'm not going to be writing any code, and instead getting tuned into what the business is doing, and where I should be focusing my effort.

mlvljr 10y ago

You are not alone :)

peejaybee 10y ago

It's easy to understand. Open plan offices have the advantage of being cheaper, and the disadvantage of harming productivity. The cost savings are immediately apparent and easily attributed. Productivity hits (or gains) come later, are harder to assign a utility to, and are harder to attribute.

smikhanov 10y ago
My theory is that productivity hits are much smaller than we developers tend to think (as awful as it sounds). I elaborate more on that in http://www.mikhanov.com/2015/06/08/open-plan-offices-creativity-and-programming-429 http://www.mikhanov.com/2015/06/08/open-plan-offices-creativ...
- blub 10y ago
  Your theory is, to put it bluntly, wrong. Maybe it applies to people slapping together node.js libraries, but otherwise developers need a working environment in which they can focus. Creativity is not only about innovating at the bleeding edge, but also coming up with effective solutions, optimisation, designing software, organising code, etc. A lot of software development is creative work. Besides, not being able to focus will also lead to increased stress levels, overlooking bugs and decreased productivity.
a3n 10y ago
I think these kinds of decisions, including recognized reduction of productivity, has to do with how desks and offices are taxed and depreciated, what has to be written into accounts, and the fact that death marches are free.
ThrustVectoring 10y ago
IMO, the fact that they're cheaper is only a justification. After all, most places are open-office rather than remote. The big reason why management likes open office is, in my opinion, that those environments make them feel like they've got more oversight and control.
- georgeecollins 10y ago
  I agree it isn't the cost. It's mostly that you can see what everybody is doing. If you don't have management or processes you trust, and a lot of new employees, you worry that you will have some kind of bad behavior. Also that its easy to move people around, which you do a lot when you are growing. I work at a startup with open offices (my second) and the absenteeism blows me away. I really believe it is because the office is an unpleasant place to work. But hey, we have ping pong tables!

contingencies 10y ago

About 70% here. 30% is commuting.

stock_toaster 10y ago

I believe you, because I feel exactly the same way -- I work remotely because I find open office plans very distracting.

jon-wood 10y ago

Initially I did it to avoid the commute, but it's increasingly a way to get a private office where I can actually get work done. Having said that I still find the occasional visits to the office a valuable thing, but I approach with the understanding that I'm not going to be writing any code, and instead getting tuned into what the business is doing, and where I should be focusing my effort.