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> Before, I continue, I would like to call out that I am part of the ‘problem’ with open offices. I’m extroverted... While I still prefer a private office, ope

by meritt 9y ago

> Before, I continue, I would like to call out that I am part of the ‘problem’ with open offices. I’m extroverted... While I still prefer a private office, open offices don't bother me precisely because I'm an introvert. Headphones plus some synthwave and you all disappear.

chrisbennet 9y ago
Someone downvoted you for stating your preference and how you feel. WTF???
- ardme 9y ago
  It's OK, I balanced it out with an upvote for synthwave.
  - meritt 9y ago
    I can never decide if it's "synthwave" or "new retro wave". Is there a difference?
- ryandrake 9y ago
  You must be new here :)
deathanatos 9y ago
I've tried this, but while I consider myself an introvert, I just can't do the whole music thing all day. People still manage to interrupt, which makes the headphones come off, and I just never remember to put them back in. And noise still gets in, though I admit that I don't have those really nice sound-cancelling headphones, but FFS, how much of my own money do I need to drop to make up for the craptastic workplace the employer provides? While the headphones can fix the noise/distraction stuff, it doesn't magically make additional space appear. You can see in the image on the Medium article just how much space the author has at home; compare that to the Facebook office picture (I think I might actually have less space.) With more space, you might be able to do things like put up charts/diagrams, put a whiteboard on a wall (if I only had a wall) / have space to have one of those rolly ones like in the FB picture. (we lack the space for a WB…) Then there's the increased incidence in disease.
- meritt 9y ago
  > it doesn't magically make additional space appear. Oh, that's an excellent point, I guess my experience with open offices still provide a reasonable amount of space for each person so you weren't crammed on top of eachother. In 2011 I interviewed for a dev position at Kabam and the layout in their Redwood Shores office appeared to be the sort of middle school cafeteria tables -- the really long faux-wood tables with attached seats -- with people crammed in side by side all along it and this jumble of wires in the middle that is probably still tangled to this day. I grabbed a second free coffee and walked out on that interview.
falcolas 9y ago
How do you block out the visual noise and distractions?

by meritt 9y ago

chrisbennet 9y ago

Someone downvoted you for stating your preference and how you feel. WTF???

ardme 9y ago
It's OK, I balanced it out with an upvote for synthwave.
- meritt 9y ago
  I can never decide if it's "synthwave" or "new retro wave". Is there a difference?
ryandrake 9y ago
You must be new here :)

deathanatos 9y ago

I've tried this, but while I consider myself an introvert, I just can't do the whole music thing all day. People still manage to interrupt, which makes the headphones come off, and I just never remember to put them back in. And noise still gets in, though I admit that I don't have those really nice sound-cancelling headphones, but FFS, how much of my own money do I need to drop to make up for the craptastic workplace the employer provides? While the headphones can fix the noise/distraction stuff, it doesn't magically make additional space appear. You can see in the image on the Medium article just how much space the author has at home; compare that to the Facebook office picture (I think I might actually have less space.) With more space, you might be able to do things like put up charts/diagrams, put a whiteboard on a wall (if I only had a wall) / have space to have one of those rolly ones like in the FB picture. (we lack the space for a WB…) Then there's the increased incidence in disease.

meritt 9y ago
> it doesn't magically make additional space appear. Oh, that's an excellent point, I guess my experience with open offices still provide a reasonable amount of space for each person so you weren't crammed on top of eachother. In 2011 I interviewed for a dev position at Kabam and the layout in their Redwood Shores office appeared to be the sort of middle school cafeteria tables -- the really long faux-wood tables with attached seats -- with people crammed in side by side all along it and this jumble of wires in the middle that is probably still tangled to this day. I grabbed a second free coffee and walked out on that interview.

falcolas 9y ago

How do you block out the visual noise and distractions?