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My problem with an office or open office is not the noise, I can put on headphones and be fine, but is the actual interruptions. In an open office it is obviou

by chrisan 10y ago

My problem with an office or open office is not the noise, I can put on headphones and be fine, but is the actual interruptions. In an open office it is obviously much easier for someone to just lean over or look around their monitor and grab your attention, but having a private office with a door is still prone to someone knocking (or walking in if not closed) Working from home, people can email, chat, or leave a phone message and in any case when I am focusing none of those will bother me until I make an effort to check for messages. Emergency calls can get through by calling me twice. The only reason I'd like to be in an office is often my workmates become friends, and I want to "hang out" with my friends

dep_b 10y ago
Let me tell you from my experience as somebody that didn't see the inside of an office for so long I forgot what bad coffee tastes like that the "headphones means go away" rule is not respected by significant others at home. Actually just playing the music loud over speakers works much better. But YMMV depending on your music taste, mine is perceived as too intrusive by most.
- beat 10y ago
  I don't like wearing headphones for too long. But a nice hi-fi setup with vinyl while I'm working... that I love. And can't do it in the office.
  - dep_b 10y ago
    Yeah that's absolutely the best. Some nice warm sounding big speakers on a low volume. Flipping the album once in a while. But alas, everything is still stuck in a crate in another country.
Bluestrike2 10y ago
I wouldn't discount that last reason. There's some research suggesting that friendships between coworkers can greatly increase worker engagement, productivity, and satisfaction.[0][1][2] And a self-report study from LinkedIn suggests that workers perceive workplace friendships as beneficial for both themselves and their work, for what that's worth.[3] Of course, it can also blow up in your face and do the opposite, occasionally slowing down more productive workers as they match their speed to those of their less productive friends when it comes to individual work.[4] That study looked at fruitpickers, but it could be relevant to the tech industry as well. Paradoxically, at least in the US, we're seeing a trend towards fewer workplace friendships and greater detachment.[5] I/O (industrial and organizational) psychologists have a lot of interesting interpretations for those trends. Almost across the board, employment is far more transitory today than in past decades, so there's less pressure to invest time in meaningful relationships at work. And we're so connected nowadays that it's easier than ever to preserve relationships in some form (regardless of whether they're preserved, or we just believe they are), so we don't feel the need to generate replacements as much. Having done a lot of freelance work myself for a couple of years, if I'm being entirely honest with myself, this is one of the disadvantages at times. I enjoy getting to work on different projects, but there's something to be said for getting to focus on something with the same team. Even if open offices and talkative coworkers can get in the way at times :). 0. https://hbr.org/2013/07/we-all-need-friends-at-work https://hbr.org/2013/07/we-all-need-friends-at-work 1. http://www.gallup.com/services/178514/state-american-workplace.aspx http://www.gallup.com/services/178514/state-american-workpla... (behind a form) 2. https://www.fastcompany.com/3051290/why-having-friends-at-work-is-so-important https://www.fastcompany.com/3051290/why-having-friends-at-wo... 3. https://blog.linkedin.com/2014/07/08/work-bffs https://blog.linkedin.com/2014/07/08/work-bffs 4. http://www.lse.ac.uk/website-archive/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2010/02/friendsinworkplace.aspx http://www.lse.ac.uk/website-archive/newsAndMedia/news/archi... 5. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/opinion/sunday/adam-grant-friends-at-work-not-so-much.html?_r=2 https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/opinion/sunday/adam-grant...
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

by chrisan 10y ago

dep_b 10y ago

Let me tell you from my experience as somebody that didn't see the inside of an office for so long I forgot what bad coffee tastes like that the "headphones means go away" rule is not respected by significant others at home. Actually just playing the music loud over speakers works much better. But YMMV depending on your music taste, mine is perceived as too intrusive by most.

beat 10y ago
I don't like wearing headphones for too long. But a nice hi-fi setup with vinyl while I'm working... that I love. And can't do it in the office.
- dep_b 10y ago
  Yeah that's absolutely the best. Some nice warm sounding big speakers on a low volume. Flipping the album once in a while. But alas, everything is still stuck in a crate in another country.

Bluestrike2 10y ago

I wouldn't discount that last reason. There's some research suggesting that friendships between coworkers can greatly increase worker engagement, productivity, and satisfaction.[0][1][2] And a self-report study from LinkedIn suggests that workers perceive workplace friendships as beneficial for both themselves and their work, for what that's worth.[3] Of course, it can also blow up in your face and do the opposite, occasionally slowing down more productive workers as they match their speed to those of their less productive friends when it comes to individual work.[4] That study looked at fruitpickers, but it could be relevant to the tech industry as well. Paradoxically, at least in the US, we're seeing a trend towards fewer workplace friendships and greater detachment.[5] I/O (industrial and organizational) psychologists have a lot of interesting interpretations for those trends. Almost across the board, employment is far more transitory today than in past decades, so there's less pressure to invest time in meaningful relationships at work. And we're so connected nowadays that it's easier than ever to preserve relationships in some form (regardless of whether they're preserved, or we just believe they are), so we don't feel the need to generate replacements as much. Having done a lot of freelance work myself for a couple of years, if I'm being entirely honest with myself, this is one of the disadvantages at times. I enjoy getting to work on different projects, but there's something to be said for getting to focus on something with the same team. Even if open offices and talkative coworkers can get in the way at times :). 0. https://hbr.org/2013/07/we-all-need-friends-at-work https://hbr.org/2013/07/we-all-need-friends-at-work 1. http://www.gallup.com/services/178514/state-american-workplace.aspx http://www.gallup.com/services/178514/state-american-workpla... (behind a form) 2. https://www.fastcompany.com/3051290/why-having-friends-at-work-is-so-important https://www.fastcompany.com/3051290/why-having-friends-at-wo... 3. https://blog.linkedin.com/2014/07/08/work-bffs https://blog.linkedin.com/2014/07/08/work-bffs 4. http://www.lse.ac.uk/website-archive/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2010/02/friendsinworkplace.aspx http://www.lse.ac.uk/website-archive/newsAndMedia/news/archi... 5. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/opinion/sunday/adam-grant-friends-at-work-not-so-much.html?_r=2 https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/opinion/sunday/adam-grant...

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]