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It's Official: Open Plan Offices Are Now the Dumbest Management Fad of All Time

21 points by eplanit 8y ago

Alterlife 8y ago
Along with the article, I get a video where "a top designer explains how to plan the perfect open office". Color me confused.
- tomatotomato37 8y ago
  Type open office into their search bar. Nearly every other article contradicts the one adjacent to it. It's actually pretty funny
scblock 8y ago
While we're pointing out dumb fads, how about the video player and other pointless crap that popped up on the screen and blocked part of the article. A purposely user-hostile fad in web design.
- gbear605 8y ago
  This was one of the slowest to load pages that I've seen in a while (no ad block). I usually use a bookmarklet to kill dumb popups that scroll with you[1], and I actually had to update it[2] for this page, since this page used `position: sticky` instead of `position: fixed` for one thing. [1]: javascript:(function(){(function () {var i, elements = document.querySelectorAll('body *');for (i = 0; i < elements.length; i++) {if (getComputedStyle(elements[i]).position === 'fixed') {elements[i].parentNode.removeChild(elements[i]);}}})()})() [2]: javascript:(function(){(function () {var i, elements = document.querySelectorAll('body *');for (i = 0; i < elements.length; i++) {if (getComputedStyle(elements[i]).position === 'fixed' || getComputedStyle(elements[i]).position === 'sticky') {elements[i].parentNode.removeChild(elements[i]);}}})()})()
- ben509 8y ago
  You knows it's purposeful when they've obfuscated the CSS selectors: ##.ArticlePage__isOpen__1YrKK.ArticlePage__mustWatchContainer__1fa3e
clavalle 8y ago
My vote for dumbest fad would be using business tropes on rank and file employees and, worse, clients. No rank and file employee wants to be a 'brand ambassador' and clients don't want to rate your 'sense of urgency'. Keep the jargon with the specialists in the back room. The trick is to do important things that might be described by cringeworthy jargon without letting on that is what you are doing! It's like announcing at a singles bar that you are there to get laid when you walk in the door. Everybody knows but its a terrible thing to call direct attention to.
- dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago
  It's terribly stupid but it's so omnipresent that even people who think it's stupid choose to do it anyway because "everyone else is doing it."
al_ramich 8y ago
Well, the noise and distractions caused by not being able to isolate yourself for tasks that require concentration for longer periods should be enough to have people dislike open-plan workspaces. For tasks that require concentration, the only way seems to be noise canceling headphones. I wonder if we will get to a point where VR/AR collaborative spaces will provide the next phase of co-working. It certainly would open up options for working from anywhere and for organizations to hire anywhere and still have teams to work in a similar way to being in an office. https://uploadvr.com/virtual-office-commute-vr-replacement/ https://uploadvr.com/virtual-office-commute-vr-replacement/
taylodl 8y ago
What teams need are ready access to dedicated collaboration spaces when needed. My experience with open floor plans is developers need uninterrupted "heads-down" time to work through complex tasks and open floor plans make that difficult to obtain. Developers endure interruptions which in turn limit the complexity of the tasks they're able to complete. I believe it's this desire to get uninterrupted time that's causing the paradoxical result that they actually collaborate less.
sxp62000 8y ago
Open office plans suit small groups of people, maybe 5-6. Even then, I prefer the open office plans where everybody is facing a wall or partition of some sort. Being able to see the person on the other side of the table is terribly distracting!

21 points by eplanit 8y ago

Along with the article, I get a video where "a top designer explains how to plan the perfect open office". Color me confused.

tomatotomato37 8y ago
Type open office into their search bar. Nearly every other article contradicts the one adjacent to it. It's actually pretty funny

scblock 8y ago

While we're pointing out dumb fads, how about the video player and other pointless crap that popped up on the screen and blocked part of the article. A purposely user-hostile fad in web design.

gbear605 8y ago
This was one of the slowest to load pages that I've seen in a while (no ad block). I usually use a bookmarklet to kill dumb popups that scroll with you[1], and I actually had to update it[2] for this page, since this page used `position: sticky` instead of `position: fixed` for one thing. [1]: javascript:(function(){(function () {var i, elements = document.querySelectorAll('body *');for (i = 0; i < elements.length; i++) {if (getComputedStyle(elements[i]).position === 'fixed') {elements[i].parentNode.removeChild(elements[i]);}}})()})() [2]: javascript:(function(){(function () {var i, elements = document.querySelectorAll('body *');for (i = 0; i < elements.length; i++) {if (getComputedStyle(elements[i]).position === 'fixed' || getComputedStyle(elements[i]).position === 'sticky') {elements[i].parentNode.removeChild(elements[i]);}}})()})()
ben509 8y ago
You knows it's purposeful when they've obfuscated the CSS selectors: ##.ArticlePage__isOpen__1YrKK.ArticlePage__mustWatchContainer__1fa3e

clavalle 8y ago

My vote for dumbest fad would be using business tropes on rank and file employees and, worse, clients. No rank and file employee wants to be a 'brand ambassador' and clients don't want to rate your 'sense of urgency'. Keep the jargon with the specialists in the back room. The trick is to do important things that might be described by cringeworthy jargon without letting on that is what you are doing! It's like announcing at a singles bar that you are there to get laid when you walk in the door. Everybody knows but its a terrible thing to call direct attention to.

dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago
It's terribly stupid but it's so omnipresent that even people who think it's stupid choose to do it anyway because "everyone else is doing it."

al_ramich 8y ago

Well, the noise and distractions caused by not being able to isolate yourself for tasks that require concentration for longer periods should be enough to have people dislike open-plan workspaces. For tasks that require concentration, the only way seems to be noise canceling headphones. I wonder if we will get to a point where VR/AR collaborative spaces will provide the next phase of co-working. It certainly would open up options for working from anywhere and for organizations to hire anywhere and still have teams to work in a similar way to being in an office. https://uploadvr.com/virtual-office-commute-vr-replacement/ https://uploadvr.com/virtual-office-commute-vr-replacement/

taylodl 8y ago

What teams need are ready access to dedicated collaboration spaces when needed. My experience with open floor plans is developers need uninterrupted "heads-down" time to work through complex tasks and open floor plans make that difficult to obtain. Developers endure interruptions which in turn limit the complexity of the tasks they're able to complete. I believe it's this desire to get uninterrupted time that's causing the paradoxical result that they actually collaborate less.

sxp62000 8y ago

Open office plans suit small groups of people, maybe 5-6. Even then, I prefer the open office plans where everybody is facing a wall or partition of some sort. Being able to see the person on the other side of the table is terribly distracting!