4 ms·

It's not so much the cost of construction as the cost of real estate -- it's hard to build an office as small as single desks or (yuck) bench-style side by side

It's not so much the cost of construction as the cost of real estate -- it's hard to build an office as small as single desks or (yuck) bench-style side by side seating. Offices have tighter constraints on egress/ingress than rows of desks so you can't use space as efficiently. Plus, offices/cubes are not flexible at all -- when you start to outgrow your building full of offices (or even cubes), you can't easily squeeze desks together to make room while you seek additional space. We have some small "phone rooms" that are about as small as you can build an office, and they are super cramped and uncomfortable, I wouldn't want to spend a full work-day in one.

manigandham 8y ago
It doesn't have to be an office per person. Small groups up to 8 people can work well and very doable without a big loss in usable square feet. I suspect most companies that absolutely need every inch of continuous desk space have bigger problems. Organic growth isn't difficult to manage, it's the crazy VC fueled hiring sprees that create real estate issues.
- baddox 8y ago
  What downsides of a large open office are eliminated with an 8-person room? 8 seems like a lot of people if you really want the peace and quiet of an isolated office, and it doesn’t seem like a 50-person open office is going to be much louder or worse than an 8-person office.
  - manigandham 8y ago
    Up to 8, that's more of an upper limit. Sound levels rise with the size of the crowd. More people making noise, more conversations more of the time, more space to spread the sound, and less individual accountability means people talk louder to be heard and are less considerate of their neighbors, creating a feedback cycle that ends up in a very rough environment.
  - michaelt 8y ago
    1. 8 people make less noise than 80 people. 2. Physical security and confidentiality is much better. 3. If teams hold 'stand up meetings' or suchlike without using meeting rooms, they won't disrupt other teams. 4. People who have to make calls all the time (customer support, sales etc) don't disrupt other people. 5. Fixed walls remove the temptation to salami-slice square-footage-per-employee, protecting good working conditions. 6. Climate control becomes simpler and has a better chance of working.
  - Rooster61 8y ago
    I don't know how true this is for others, but on-task discussion doesn't grate on my nerves like random off topic conversations. If someone is talking about some aspect of the project I am working on right next to me, I can handle that MUCH better than someone in another department 4 cubes away bloviating about what their kid wore to prom or who the Piggers beat the previous night ("YOU SHOULDA SEEN IT MAN!!"). I know that isn't the case for everybody, but I think I'd be quite comfortable in an 8 person war room as long as folks were actually working on stuff.

manigandham 8y ago

It doesn't have to be an office per person. Small groups up to 8 people can work well and very doable without a big loss in usable square feet. I suspect most companies that absolutely need every inch of continuous desk space have bigger problems. Organic growth isn't difficult to manage, it's the crazy VC fueled hiring sprees that create real estate issues.

baddox 8y ago
What downsides of a large open office are eliminated with an 8-person room? 8 seems like a lot of people if you really want the peace and quiet of an isolated office, and it doesn’t seem like a 50-person open office is going to be much louder or worse than an 8-person office.
- manigandham 8y ago
  Up to 8, that's more of an upper limit. Sound levels rise with the size of the crowd. More people making noise, more conversations more of the time, more space to spread the sound, and less individual accountability means people talk louder to be heard and are less considerate of their neighbors, creating a feedback cycle that ends up in a very rough environment.
- michaelt 8y ago
  1. 8 people make less noise than 80 people. 2. Physical security and confidentiality is much better. 3. If teams hold 'stand up meetings' or suchlike without using meeting rooms, they won't disrupt other teams. 4. People who have to make calls all the time (customer support, sales etc) don't disrupt other people. 5. Fixed walls remove the temptation to salami-slice square-footage-per-employee, protecting good working conditions. 6. Climate control becomes simpler and has a better chance of working.
- Rooster61 8y ago
  I don't know how true this is for others, but on-task discussion doesn't grate on my nerves like random off topic conversations. If someone is talking about some aspect of the project I am working on right next to me, I can handle that MUCH better than someone in another department 4 cubes away bloviating about what their kid wore to prom or who the Piggers beat the previous night ("YOU SHOULDA SEEN IT MAN!!"). I know that isn't the case for everybody, but I think I'd be quite comfortable in an 8 person war room as long as folks were actually working on stuff.