> having an experienced person you can ask questions of every 5 to 10 minutes is a big help That is orthogonal (independent) of the office layout. I have been

> having an experienced person you can ask questions of every 5 to 10 minutes is a big help That is orthogonal (independent) of the office layout. I have been both the person who needed to be brought up to speed and the one who helped others get up to speed and I can't think in either case how an open office layout would have made it better. Just randomly interrupting people every 5 to 10 minutes is not the best approach and that's exactly the what's one of the problems with the open office layout -- they invite those kind of interruptions.