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>I'm not actually against open plan offices....at team level. Having now worked in one of these at a large company, we found those sorts of "team offices" hurt

by opo 6y ago

>I'm not actually against open plan offices....at team level. Having now worked in one of these at a large company, we found those sorts of "team offices" hurt collaboration and innovation even more than open floor plans. Unless the company is relativley small, the random conversations between people from different teams is often the key to innovation and getting problems solved early without having having to have formal meetings and delays. A team room means that to ask a co-worker on another team a simple question (or to just see what they are working on) becomes a big deal because you are now entering that other team's space and interrupting a dozen people. Unless you really know the other person well, we found people just are very hesitant to do it. In big companies, there usually isn't a problem with communicating within a team - the problems occur when teams aren't communicating with people in other teams. These team rooms ruin informal inter-team collaboration and communication. With the pandemic it isn't hard to see that a small enclosed team room with people packed in it is also a pretty good way to guarantee a virus will be spread to others.

jlengrand 6y ago
Yeah, I mean I'll leave pandemic out of the discussion simply because airco will make sure the virus is spread everywhere in the building, not just the team anyways. I do agree with you in a way, that's one of the dangers. But I also see today that a lot of teams are not even sure what's being done just next to then, simply because everyone has headphones on all day. Creating a climate of inter exchange and communication in between teams is indeed key.
- opo 6y ago
  >Yeah, I mean I'll leave pandemic out of the discussion simply because airco will make sure the virus is spread everywhere in the building, not just the team anyways. If the air con is recirculating the air like in the case of that restaurant in China, that is true. Otherwise the risk isn't as clear: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/can-air-conditioning-spread-covid-19-probably-not https://www.healthline.com/health-news/can-air-conditioning-... >...But I also see today that a lot of teams are not even sure what's being done just next to then, simply because everyone has headphones on all day. Creating a climate of inter exchange and communication in between teams is indeed key. I agree. The best environment I've seen for that is individual offices with shared collaboration spaces near the offices.
photonios 6y ago
> A team room means that to ask a co-worker on another team a simple question (or to just see what they are working on) becomes a big deal because you are now entering that other team's space and interrupting a dozen people. Isn't that kind of the point of having team offices?
- em-bee 6y ago
  the question is, what is better for collaboration. if getting a question to another team is a such a big deal, then it will happen less and hurt interteam collaboration
- opo 6y ago
  >...Isn't that kind of the point of having team offices? Having each team in their own silo isn't necessarily a good thing. They may feel they are getting more done in their daily standup meetings, but long term innovation often comes from inter-team collaboration and sharing of expertise. As I said before, what I've seen is that random conversations between people from different teams is often the key to innovation and getting problems solved early without having having to have formal meetings and delays. I've also seen teams in their silo end up making poor choices in areas of technical design where they didn't have as much background. If two companies are competing with each other, the one where there is great informal inter-team collaboration is going to have an advantage over the one where each team is in its own silo and at best ignores the other teams.
arantius 6y ago
> A team room means that to ask a co-worker on another team a simple question (or to just see what they are working on) becomes a big deal because you are now entering that other team's space and interrupting a dozen people. Which is better than interrupting the hundred plus people in the giant open-office space?
- em-bee 6y ago
  in a 100 people room there will always be people walking around. what an open office does is to train people to ignore the noise around them (pity those that can't adjust). you'll see people walking by and you'll ignore them. in a team room, if someone enters, you know that it's for the team, and everyone will perk up to see what the 'intruder' wants.
- opo 6y ago
  Unless they feel the need to yell, they are probably interrupting a small number of people and not hundred plus people. The difference in the open floor plan is that at least they aren't entering the private space of another team. What we saw is that when each team is in their own little silo, people are reluctant to go invade another team's private space unless they knew the person very well. Inter-team knowledge sharing and collaboration really dropped. While team silos create additional problems, obviously the hundred plus style open floor plans are still pretty horrible. The best approach I have seen is individual offices with shared collaboration areas nearby. People can do deep work by closing their office door. People can pair-program, have someone look over their code, have a private conversation etc. by going to another's office without disturbing everyone else. A shared collaboration area allows for quick easy group discussion when helpful.
em-bee 6y ago
once you have people working from home, or teams spread over multiple locations then any offline communication becomes a problem because the remote people are excluded. interteam communication is not an officelayout problem but a company communication culture problem. changing the office layout may be one approach to address the problem, but it may not always make the problem go away.

by opo 6y ago

jlengrand 6y ago

Yeah, I mean I'll leave pandemic out of the discussion simply because airco will make sure the virus is spread everywhere in the building, not just the team anyways. I do agree with you in a way, that's one of the dangers. But I also see today that a lot of teams are not even sure what's being done just next to then, simply because everyone has headphones on all day. Creating a climate of inter exchange and communication in between teams is indeed key.

opo 6y ago
>Yeah, I mean I'll leave pandemic out of the discussion simply because airco will make sure the virus is spread everywhere in the building, not just the team anyways. If the air con is recirculating the air like in the case of that restaurant in China, that is true. Otherwise the risk isn't as clear: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/can-air-conditioning-spread-covid-19-probably-not https://www.healthline.com/health-news/can-air-conditioning-... >...But I also see today that a lot of teams are not even sure what's being done just next to then, simply because everyone has headphones on all day. Creating a climate of inter exchange and communication in between teams is indeed key. I agree. The best environment I've seen for that is individual offices with shared collaboration spaces near the offices.

photonios 6y ago

> A team room means that to ask a co-worker on another team a simple question (or to just see what they are working on) becomes a big deal because you are now entering that other team's space and interrupting a dozen people. Isn't that kind of the point of having team offices?

em-bee 6y ago
the question is, what is better for collaboration. if getting a question to another team is a such a big deal, then it will happen less and hurt interteam collaboration
opo 6y ago
>...Isn't that kind of the point of having team offices? Having each team in their own silo isn't necessarily a good thing. They may feel they are getting more done in their daily standup meetings, but long term innovation often comes from inter-team collaboration and sharing of expertise. As I said before, what I've seen is that random conversations between people from different teams is often the key to innovation and getting problems solved early without having having to have formal meetings and delays. I've also seen teams in their silo end up making poor choices in areas of technical design where they didn't have as much background. If two companies are competing with each other, the one where there is great informal inter-team collaboration is going to have an advantage over the one where each team is in its own silo and at best ignores the other teams.

arantius 6y ago

> A team room means that to ask a co-worker on another team a simple question (or to just see what they are working on) becomes a big deal because you are now entering that other team's space and interrupting a dozen people. Which is better than interrupting the hundred plus people in the giant open-office space?

em-bee 6y ago
in a 100 people room there will always be people walking around. what an open office does is to train people to ignore the noise around them (pity those that can't adjust). you'll see people walking by and you'll ignore them. in a team room, if someone enters, you know that it's for the team, and everyone will perk up to see what the 'intruder' wants.
opo 6y ago
Unless they feel the need to yell, they are probably interrupting a small number of people and not hundred plus people. The difference in the open floor plan is that at least they aren't entering the private space of another team. What we saw is that when each team is in their own little silo, people are reluctant to go invade another team's private space unless they knew the person very well. Inter-team knowledge sharing and collaboration really dropped. While team silos create additional problems, obviously the hundred plus style open floor plans are still pretty horrible. The best approach I have seen is individual offices with shared collaboration areas nearby. People can do deep work by closing their office door. People can pair-program, have someone look over their code, have a private conversation etc. by going to another's office without disturbing everyone else. A shared collaboration area allows for quick easy group discussion when helpful.

em-bee 6y ago

once you have people working from home, or teams spread over multiple locations then any offline communication becomes a problem because the remote people are excluded. interteam communication is not an officelayout problem but a company communication culture problem. changing the office layout may be one approach to address the problem, but it may not always make the problem go away.