3 ms·

honest question: Do you think open offices are or should be an "embraceable" aspect of start-up culture? Are the common activities of faculty compatible with r

honest question: Do you think open offices are or should be an "embraceable" aspect of start-up culture? Are the common activities of faculty compatible with rows of desks, no privacy and constant interruptions? I'm thinking about administrivia and deep, contemplative thought. The only (perhaps) valid use-case I've seen for open office is highly collaborative tactical execution. The minute you need individual thought-space or strategic focus it's a massive hinderance.

aylmao 8y ago
I wonder this too. My guess is it could be similar to programming-- there's times when it's just me and my computer-- everything else is a distraction. Other times though, I'm working with others, asking questions, helping people or socializing. I have friends at places where they have offices, and I work on an open-office space: we each like and dislike different aspects of our respective setup. From my experience in college (anecdotal observations), there's professors who seem to spend a lot of time working with others. They were solving problems with grad-students or at meetings-- though there's some I always found alone in their offices too. I'm sure this varies by person and by field, but I'd be interested in knowing if the open office is working for the faculty here.
dgacmu 8y ago
I'm a professor at CMU. I have a lovely office. I don't use it except for holding office hours and 1:1 meetings that require confidentiality. I spend most of my time near the entry of an open plan area where I bump into people at a much higher rate. I love it. I do sometimes hide in my office or home for some things, but much less than you'd probably guess. I also spend a lot of time walking around - I find that things like reviewing papers is best done away from all distraction, including electronic , so I'll walk over to a nearby park while reading. I often do the same for editing my student's papers.

aylmao 8y ago

I wonder this too. My guess is it could be similar to programming-- there's times when it's just me and my computer-- everything else is a distraction. Other times though, I'm working with others, asking questions, helping people or socializing. I have friends at places where they have offices, and I work on an open-office space: we each like and dislike different aspects of our respective setup. From my experience in college (anecdotal observations), there's professors who seem to spend a lot of time working with others. They were solving problems with grad-students or at meetings-- though there's some I always found alone in their offices too. I'm sure this varies by person and by field, but I'd be interested in knowing if the open office is working for the faculty here.

dgacmu 8y ago

I'm a professor at CMU. I have a lovely office. I don't use it except for holding office hours and 1:1 meetings that require confidentiality. I spend most of my time near the entry of an open plan area where I bump into people at a much higher rate. I love it. I do sometimes hide in my office or home for some things, but much less than you'd probably guess. I also spend a lot of time walking around - I find that things like reviewing papers is best done away from all distraction, including electronic , so I'll walk over to a nearby park while reading. I often do the same for editing my student's papers.