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Frustration with open offices is perfectly understandable -- I work in an open office and overall I would prefer to have my own office (most people would). But

Frustration with open offices is perfectly understandable -- I work in an open office and overall I would prefer to have my own office (most people would). But the outrage about the trend towards open offices reeks of entitlement. Think of the assembly line worker -- he/she has even less privacy. And don't tell me that working on an assembly line isn't mentally exhausting. Try one shift and let me know how that goes. Think cook in a shady restaurant, think an illegal immigrant in San Antonio in July installing a new roof on somebody's McMansion. THOSE are difficult working environments.

femiagbabiaka 10y ago
yes.. they deserve dignity on the job too. we can have both, no need to choose
paulryanrogers 10y ago
"Think of the assembly line worker..." While I'm grateful to service workers who must be on-site because of the nature of their work, there is a case to be made that some workers are more productive and happy private settings. And if the overall costs are similar then why don't information workers have a choice?
jrs235 10y ago
I don't think the complaint is about difficult working environments but rather non-conducive working environments for knowledge workers. Programmers need the ability to focus and minimal distractions in order to keep the conceptual and logical model of their work loaded in their head. Anything that causes a momentary data dump and reboot is detrimental to their core function. A hot roof in the summer for a roofer is expected. If that roofer has to think about how to solve a [non standard] roofing issue while on the roof while thinking about the entire building's (complex) roof and how his solution will affect the other roofs he works on then I understand the complaint. And he should get down off the roof and sit someplace where he can reason and think out a proper solution with minimal distractions and external/physical stress.

femiagbabiaka 10y ago

yes.. they deserve dignity on the job too. we can have both, no need to choose

paulryanrogers 10y ago

"Think of the assembly line worker..." While I'm grateful to service workers who must be on-site because of the nature of their work, there is a case to be made that some workers are more productive and happy private settings. And if the overall costs are similar then why don't information workers have a choice?

jrs235 10y ago

I don't think the complaint is about difficult working environments but rather non-conducive working environments for knowledge workers. Programmers need the ability to focus and minimal distractions in order to keep the conceptual and logical model of their work loaded in their head. Anything that causes a momentary data dump and reboot is detrimental to their core function. A hot roof in the summer for a roofer is expected. If that roofer has to think about how to solve a [non standard] roofing issue while on the roof while thinking about the entire building's (complex) roof and how his solution will affect the other roofs he works on then I understand the complaint. And he should get down off the roof and sit someplace where he can reason and think out a proper solution with minimal distractions and external/physical stress.