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It seems like when "Open Office" articles come out there seem to be quite a few people talking ill of them. I recently switched jobs and with it switched from a

It seems like when "Open Office" articles come out there seem to be quite a few people talking ill of them. I recently switched jobs and with it switched from an open concept (large room with whiteboards separating teams) to an office (shared with one other coworker.) Maybe I was conditioned to like it (I certainly didn't like it at first) but I really did prefer the open concept when working on a team of 8 or 9 people. I never missed a conversation my team was having and if I ever needed anything all I needed to do was turn around. I guess I get the noise issues, but even in an office with my door open I can still hear conversations in the hallways so I still wear my noise canceling headphones.

jdc0589 9y ago
This is why I actually like cubicles. you are physically close to your team, if your space is organized well you are on a common isle with people you work with, but you still have at least a little bit of isolation in your personal workspace. I DO NOT understand why cubes get so much hate.
- Danihan 9y ago
  As someone with ADD (who immediately drops focus when someone walks by or when music has lyrics) cubicles are much better than most open office plans. They just don't look as "cool" or "hip" as a long, open table.
  - jesseryoung 9y ago
    I should add that we did not have long open tables. Each person had their own mobile sit/stand desk and mobile filing cabinet for personal belongings. There was quite a few people who positioned themselves facing a corner for that reason.
- tpeo 9y ago
  Possibly because having cubicles for each employee creates the expectation that each employee will stay at their cubicle. Walking up to a colleague's cubicle to chat about a work-related project can be misconstrued by an uninformed observer as "not working". This incentivizes employees to stay in their own cubicles. That is the simplest way I can think of by which we might come to the usual "cubicle hell" scenario where workers are stuck from 9 to 5 in their cubicles while being occasionally nagged by management (as in Office Space).
- Antrikshy 9y ago
  Cubicles really are the best IMO too. They block off visual distractions, which is equally as important as minimizing noise.
- coldcode 9y ago
  I prefer cubes as long as they have 6ft walls or more. I once worked in a open plan where I had 12 sq ft of space. At least with carpet and walls you get some sound damping but can still ask hear what's going on if you need to.
- _raoulcousins 9y ago
  Slight differences in cubes make a big difference to me. I was just moved to a cube where the only feasible setup is having my back to foot traffic and it drives me nuts.
- pavement 9y ago
  Okay, I'll break it down for you: Open office plans are soul crushing and noisy. They are not explicitly given to disorganization and distraction, but prone to it. Cubicles are soul crushing and organized. They are not explicitly private, but prone to it. Not all spaces are created equally. Most are bad, but some are appalling. If you find one that is "good" you probably don't work there. Give it time, and it will suck eventually. They all do. None of them are actually Home.
- zimzam 9y ago
  I find that if there are enough conversations in an open-plan office the conversations blend together and I can tune them out (similarly to a coffee shop). At the cube-farm I worked at there would often be exactly one conversation happening at a time making it difficult for me to focus on anything else. So I find cubicles to be the worst of both worlds: not private enough to have quiet but not loud enough to tune everything out.
valuearb 9y ago
What was your role on the team? Did your team-members enjoy you turning around and interrupting them? Is it really that hard to get up and walk to another office so you don't disturb 8 other people with a question they don't care about? Walking around occasionally in the day is actually good for us. And two person offices are a mild improvement over cubicles, which are a significant improvement over open offices. But neither is remotely as good as a one person office.
- jesseryoung 9y ago
  I was a team lead/solutions architect. > Did your team-members enjoy you turning around and interrupting them? I don't think it's fair to call all conversations "interruptions" and my co-workers were all very conscious of causing any unwanted interruptions. > Is it really that hard to get up and walk to another office so you don't disturb 8 other people with a question they don't care about? It wasn't, and I often did walk around as I regularly needed to interact with other teams. 99% of people had headphones on through all parts of the day. As a side note, this workplace was comprised of mostly men and women under the age of 35 with quite a few right out of college. We regularly got comments from the interns that we hired that they chose to work their because of the open environment. Age may play a factor here I suppose.
  - sidlls 9y ago
    You don't consider that your position of authority affected a different dynamic than if you were a lower ranked individual contributor? > As a side note, this workplace was comprised of mostly men and women under the age of 35 with quite a few right out of college. I'm not sure how this is relevant. One might as easily conclude that these folks don't know any better due to youth and inexperience as that "it's just a different age and culture."
    - MichaelGG 9y ago
      I had this exact thing happen. I was consulting for a team that just acquired a small company. They had this huge building, but got most people into a large open area. The lead was certain it was so useful, he was tuned in, everyone loved it. Plus "they can go into offices if they need it". In personal interviews with employees, nearly everyone hated it and wished they could just permanently have an office and only come out at times, but didn't want to say anything.
bitexploder 9y ago
That is a culture issue. We are a remote heavy team. Like GitLab, we have made it a part of our company DNA to write everything down. It is just about the norms of the organization. Writing everything down takes disicpline, but pays off in the long run.
33W 9y ago
I'd be curious to see what people think of when they say "open office". The description from you and others of < 12 people in a common space doesn't fit my definition. The open offices I've experienced are ~100 people separated by rolling whiteboards at best.

jdc0589 9y ago

This is why I actually like cubicles. you are physically close to your team, if your space is organized well you are on a common isle with people you work with, but you still have at least a little bit of isolation in your personal workspace. I DO NOT understand why cubes get so much hate.

Danihan 9y ago
As someone with ADD (who immediately drops focus when someone walks by or when music has lyrics) cubicles are much better than most open office plans. They just don't look as "cool" or "hip" as a long, open table.
- jesseryoung 9y ago
  I should add that we did not have long open tables. Each person had their own mobile sit/stand desk and mobile filing cabinet for personal belongings. There was quite a few people who positioned themselves facing a corner for that reason.
tpeo 9y ago
Possibly because having cubicles for each employee creates the expectation that each employee will stay at their cubicle. Walking up to a colleague's cubicle to chat about a work-related project can be misconstrued by an uninformed observer as "not working". This incentivizes employees to stay in their own cubicles. That is the simplest way I can think of by which we might come to the usual "cubicle hell" scenario where workers are stuck from 9 to 5 in their cubicles while being occasionally nagged by management (as in Office Space).
Antrikshy 9y ago
Cubicles really are the best IMO too. They block off visual distractions, which is equally as important as minimizing noise.
coldcode 9y ago
I prefer cubes as long as they have 6ft walls or more. I once worked in a open plan where I had 12 sq ft of space. At least with carpet and walls you get some sound damping but can still ask hear what's going on if you need to.
_raoulcousins 9y ago
Slight differences in cubes make a big difference to me. I was just moved to a cube where the only feasible setup is having my back to foot traffic and it drives me nuts.
pavement 9y ago
Okay, I'll break it down for you: Open office plans are soul crushing and noisy. They are not explicitly given to disorganization and distraction, but prone to it. Cubicles are soul crushing and organized. They are not explicitly private, but prone to it. Not all spaces are created equally. Most are bad, but some are appalling. If you find one that is "good" you probably don't work there. Give it time, and it will suck eventually. They all do. None of them are actually Home.
zimzam 9y ago
I find that if there are enough conversations in an open-plan office the conversations blend together and I can tune them out (similarly to a coffee shop). At the cube-farm I worked at there would often be exactly one conversation happening at a time making it difficult for me to focus on anything else. So I find cubicles to be the worst of both worlds: not private enough to have quiet but not loud enough to tune everything out.

valuearb 9y ago

What was your role on the team? Did your team-members enjoy you turning around and interrupting them? Is it really that hard to get up and walk to another office so you don't disturb 8 other people with a question they don't care about? Walking around occasionally in the day is actually good for us. And two person offices are a mild improvement over cubicles, which are a significant improvement over open offices. But neither is remotely as good as a one person office.

jesseryoung 9y ago
I was a team lead/solutions architect. > Did your team-members enjoy you turning around and interrupting them? I don't think it's fair to call all conversations "interruptions" and my co-workers were all very conscious of causing any unwanted interruptions. > Is it really that hard to get up and walk to another office so you don't disturb 8 other people with a question they don't care about? It wasn't, and I often did walk around as I regularly needed to interact with other teams. 99% of people had headphones on through all parts of the day. As a side note, this workplace was comprised of mostly men and women under the age of 35 with quite a few right out of college. We regularly got comments from the interns that we hired that they chose to work their because of the open environment. Age may play a factor here I suppose.
- sidlls 9y ago
  You don't consider that your position of authority affected a different dynamic than if you were a lower ranked individual contributor? > As a side note, this workplace was comprised of mostly men and women under the age of 35 with quite a few right out of college. I'm not sure how this is relevant. One might as easily conclude that these folks don't know any better due to youth and inexperience as that "it's just a different age and culture."
  - MichaelGG 9y ago
    I had this exact thing happen. I was consulting for a team that just acquired a small company. They had this huge building, but got most people into a large open area. The lead was certain it was so useful, he was tuned in, everyone loved it. Plus "they can go into offices if they need it". In personal interviews with employees, nearly everyone hated it and wished they could just permanently have an office and only come out at times, but didn't want to say anything.

bitexploder 9y ago

That is a culture issue. We are a remote heavy team. Like GitLab, we have made it a part of our company DNA to write everything down. It is just about the norms of the organization. Writing everything down takes disicpline, but pays off in the long run.

33W 9y ago

I'd be curious to see what people think of when they say "open office". The description from you and others of < 12 people in a common space doesn't fit my definition. The open offices I've experienced are ~100 people separated by rolling whiteboards at best.