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I kind of wonder how much open office really is about cost. I mean, it definitely does matter for startups, but I don't think that's a factor at FAANG. I mean,

I kind of wonder how much open office really is about cost. I mean, it definitely does matter for startups, but I don't think that's a factor at FAANG. I mean, look at this new FB office, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmTZJRLtA30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmTZJRLtA30, there is a ton of open space, they could probably sacrifice just a bit of that for individual offices, or even keep it how it is and add offices. Because probably only larger companies (very difficult for startups to innovate here!) can actually afford individual offices, and it's not exactly trivial to re-arrange, I think it just takes a long time for the conventional wisdom to change.

virgilp 8y ago
It must be about cost though, at least in some corporations. Why are they calling it "space optimization" here? Also, what are they measuring - since you can't optimize what you don't measure? I haven't seen surveys or something that suggests they measure "employee satisfaction" about it. I also haven't seen anything at all that suggests they might measure productivity, communication, whatever. All signs point towards "cost per employee".
- mifreewil 8y ago
  > It must be about cost though, at least in some corporations. I agree, I just don't think it's as much about cost as you might think (or as I used to think). Profitable companies can afford office space. I feel like at some point (around the turn of the century ~2000) it was cool to be open office, if you weren't you were uncool, and the latest hipster generation didn't want to work for you. I think things are changing though, and people are seeing past the latest fad of what people today call "open office." It just takes a while for the general-pop wisdom to change. Nobody's ever been fired for building open office, during this latest phase.
  - virgilp 8y ago
    I agree they can afford it... But, they still "optimize". We were already open-floor, and they modified the plan to pack us tighter. Nobody ever thought that was "cool", in any way.

virgilp 8y ago

It must be about cost though, at least in some corporations. Why are they calling it "space optimization" here? Also, what are they measuring - since you can't optimize what you don't measure? I haven't seen surveys or something that suggests they measure "employee satisfaction" about it. I also haven't seen anything at all that suggests they might measure productivity, communication, whatever. All signs point towards "cost per employee".

mifreewil 8y ago
> It must be about cost though, at least in some corporations. I agree, I just don't think it's as much about cost as you might think (or as I used to think). Profitable companies can afford office space. I feel like at some point (around the turn of the century ~2000) it was cool to be open office, if you weren't you were uncool, and the latest hipster generation didn't want to work for you. I think things are changing though, and people are seeing past the latest fad of what people today call "open office." It just takes a while for the general-pop wisdom to change. Nobody's ever been fired for building open office, during this latest phase.
- virgilp 8y ago
  I agree they can afford it... But, they still "optimize". We were already open-floor, and they modified the plan to pack us tighter. Nobody ever thought that was "cool", in any way.