4 ms·

One can dream. I never understood why cubicles took on a bad rap. Who doesn’t like their own room? It’s your own room in the office.

mc32 6y ago
I don’t know how the “hip” companies foisted this idea so successfully upon their workers. Maybe they took advantage of their naïveté and their tendency for group behavior. But man oh man, did they ever pull a fast one on them. I mean in the late aughts people dreamt of massive interconnected organic open offices where they and their bosses shared equal space (and pretend flat orgs).... ha!
- exclusiv 6y ago
  It's a lot cheaper to have an open office. They sold it as cool and the younger peeps bought it.
- fumar 6y ago
  I still hear companies speaking about their relatively flat organizations. Relative to what? I interviewed for a top tech company and the hiring manager told me they were a flat org. Yet there was a hiring manager who was a people manager. They also had a VP, many directors, and managers. I am not sure they understood the concept of flat organizations. I assumed they had a majority of individual contributors and considered it flat.
- nightowl_games 6y ago
  The bosses didn't sell it and the workers didn't buy it. There was no discussion nor choice. It just happened because it was cheaper. It happened because startup culture couldn't afford it and startup culture is worshipped.
wiml 6y ago
Cubicles were developed in the 1960s as a way to give workers a bit more personal space than an open plan (or bullpen) office. Compared to having your own office, cubicles are crummy. Compared to having no dividers at all, though, cubicles are nice.
DrScump 6y ago
I think cubicles originally became "uncool" in contrast with offices, then tech bro management took the anti-cubicle fervor in a direction that favored them over the individual contributor, ultimately increasing the contrast between ICs and management. I remember when Microsoft started recruiting heavily in SV (for Redmond positions) in the late 80s. They even had radio spots where the narrator touted that "you will have an office! With a door! That you can close! So you can THINK!" My first programming job was in a newly remodeled info services center (in the core of an old 300,000 sqft building), where two developers shared large cubes with desks facing away from each other and plenty of built-in storage. Actually great for concentration. Later, I was in a single-large-cubicle-each environment or shared offices. I have yet to work a desk job in an open office plan, and I can only imagine how inherently distracting that it.
- mc32 6y ago
  I wouldn’t characterize it as a move by tech bros. At the time of its rise it was espoused mainly by tech hipster management. Bros kind of walked into this. But yes, it’s hard to believe that young grads and wide eyed dreamers actually got excited by open offices. I think it harkens back to the idea of utopia. That people in coöperative working groups will help all the others and we’ll become a grand communal success....

mc32 6y ago

I don’t know how the “hip” companies foisted this idea so successfully upon their workers. Maybe they took advantage of their naïveté and their tendency for group behavior. But man oh man, did they ever pull a fast one on them. I mean in the late aughts people dreamt of massive interconnected organic open offices where they and their bosses shared equal space (and pretend flat orgs).... ha!

exclusiv 6y ago
It's a lot cheaper to have an open office. They sold it as cool and the younger peeps bought it.
fumar 6y ago
I still hear companies speaking about their relatively flat organizations. Relative to what? I interviewed for a top tech company and the hiring manager told me they were a flat org. Yet there was a hiring manager who was a people manager. They also had a VP, many directors, and managers. I am not sure they understood the concept of flat organizations. I assumed they had a majority of individual contributors and considered it flat.
nightowl_games 6y ago
The bosses didn't sell it and the workers didn't buy it. There was no discussion nor choice. It just happened because it was cheaper. It happened because startup culture couldn't afford it and startup culture is worshipped.

wiml 6y ago

Cubicles were developed in the 1960s as a way to give workers a bit more personal space than an open plan (or bullpen) office. Compared to having your own office, cubicles are crummy. Compared to having no dividers at all, though, cubicles are nice.

DrScump 6y ago

I think cubicles originally became "uncool" in contrast with offices, then tech bro management took the anti-cubicle fervor in a direction that favored them over the individual contributor, ultimately increasing the contrast between ICs and management. I remember when Microsoft started recruiting heavily in SV (for Redmond positions) in the late 80s. They even had radio spots where the narrator touted that "you will have an office! With a door! That you can close! So you can THINK!" My first programming job was in a newly remodeled info services center (in the core of an old 300,000 sqft building), where two developers shared large cubes with desks facing away from each other and plenty of built-in storage. Actually great for concentration. Later, I was in a single-large-cubicle-each environment or shared offices. I have yet to work a desk job in an open office plan, and I can only imagine how inherently distracting that it.

mc32 6y ago
I wouldn’t characterize it as a move by tech bros. At the time of its rise it was espoused mainly by tech hipster management. Bros kind of walked into this. But yes, it’s hard to believe that young grads and wide eyed dreamers actually got excited by open offices. I think it harkens back to the idea of utopia. That people in coöperative working groups will help all the others and we’ll become a grand communal success....