4 ms·

Also, if you’re trying to have half (or fewer) people at the office, you can have the same office assigned to two people, making it just as efficient as an open

Also, if you’re trying to have half (or fewer) people at the office, you can have the same office assigned to two people, making it just as efficient as an open-office.

the_local_host 5y ago
I suspect that would devolve into endless fights over cleanliness and storage of personal items.
- kyleee 5y ago
  No doubt it would be a pain point
stevesimmons 5y ago
My first job had the best office arrangement of any company I have seen: two people offices. We were a strategy consulting firm. Everyone had the same skills (in theory), just different levels of experience. The office seating plan paired up a junior consultant with an experienced project leader. You'd both be at your own clients half the time. So in practice you mostly had a private office. But the other person was there enough of the time that: (a) you wouldn't get lonely; (b) you'd learn a lot about being an effective consultant by seeing how they worked and hearing their phone calls with clients (of course, treated as strictly confidential between the two of you); and (c) you'd get to know each other well and you'd feel comfortable asking dumb questions despite the hierarchy difference. (d) And also every 6 months, there was an "office move" where everyone except the partners (who had sole offices) got paired up with someone else and assigned a new two-person office. This was aligned with promotions and graduate intakes, rebalancing the junior/senior mix. (The office move also encouraged everyone to archive/throwaway notes from old projects, keeping the office tidy). The same thing would work in software development etc. I don't know why so many companies went to full-on open plan rather than this kind of half-way house. You get some of the space savings and none of the open plan or hot-desking disadvantages.

4 ms·

Also, if you’re trying to have half (or fewer) people at the office, you can have the same office assigned to two people, making it just as efficient as an open

by HDMI_Cable 5y ago

Also, if you’re trying to have half (or fewer) people at the office, you can have the same office assigned to two people, making it just as efficient as an open-office.

the_local_host 5y ago
I suspect that would devolve into endless fights over cleanliness and storage of personal items.
- kyleee 5y ago
  No doubt it would be a pain point
stevesimmons 5y ago
My first job had the best office arrangement of any company I have seen: two people offices. We were a strategy consulting firm. Everyone had the same skills (in theory), just different levels of experience. The office seating plan paired up a junior consultant with an experienced project leader. You'd both be at your own clients half the time. So in practice you mostly had a private office. But the other person was there enough of the time that: (a) you wouldn't get lonely; (b) you'd learn a lot about being an effective consultant by seeing how they worked and hearing their phone calls with clients (of course, treated as strictly confidential between the two of you); and (c) you'd get to know each other well and you'd feel comfortable asking dumb questions despite the hierarchy difference. (d) And also every 6 months, there was an "office move" where everyone except the partners (who had sole offices) got paired up with someone else and assigned a new two-person office. This was aligned with promotions and graduate intakes, rebalancing the junior/senior mix. (The office move also encouraged everyone to archive/throwaway notes from old projects, keeping the office tidy). The same thing would work in software development etc. I don't know why so many companies went to full-on open plan rather than this kind of half-way house. You get some of the space savings and none of the open plan or hot-desking disadvantages.