4 ms·

I don't think it's an accident that a principal at a real estate firm thinks the way to get people back in the office is to give them a lot more square footage

I don't think it's an accident that a principal at a real estate firm thinks the way to get people back in the office is to give them a lot more square footage lol. But more seriously, I think if you really think being in the office is important (usually for mentorship reasons) then the most important things are to figure out how to make hybrid work.

brookst 4y ago
I haven’t heard mentorship as a key reason, but that’s interesting. For me it’s the white boarding. Wow did I miss whiteboarding during the pandemic, and I never found an online version that worked as well as 2-3 people working on a whiteboard. I just about cried the first time I got to do that in an office again.
- mxuribe 4y ago
  > ...For me it’s the white boarding. Wow did I miss whiteboarding... Thank goodness i'm not the only one! Honestly, the only things that i like about office work are white boarding, and lunch with others (or alternatively grabbing an occasional beer...basically socializing regardless of how it happnes). Everything else about working at a physical office space is awful. It doesn't matter if the building is some old, falling-apart relic, or a sleek, modrn office....all of them are awful...and the things i noted above can be achieved in any cheap oiffice space - including ones where everyone has their own private space/office.
mr_gibbins 4y ago
To echo the rest of the comments, hybrid is fine if and only if I get some kind of private space in the office itself, a cube is OK, a desk with partitions is OK, but I want to be able to isolate myself when necessary. A layout where someone can creep up and tap me on the shoulder? Not OK. Open plan where I can watch other people picking their nose? Not OK. But whiteboarding and social collaboration work best face-to-face, and I'm up for that, at least part-time. Our CEO has emailed around asking people to come in 2 days a week from next year, but the offices are open plan. This means my Q1 2023 to-do list now has 'find a new job' at the top of it.

brookst 4y ago

I haven’t heard mentorship as a key reason, but that’s interesting. For me it’s the white boarding. Wow did I miss whiteboarding during the pandemic, and I never found an online version that worked as well as 2-3 people working on a whiteboard. I just about cried the first time I got to do that in an office again.

mxuribe 4y ago
> ...For me it’s the white boarding. Wow did I miss whiteboarding... Thank goodness i'm not the only one! Honestly, the only things that i like about office work are white boarding, and lunch with others (or alternatively grabbing an occasional beer...basically socializing regardless of how it happnes). Everything else about working at a physical office space is awful. It doesn't matter if the building is some old, falling-apart relic, or a sleek, modrn office....all of them are awful...and the things i noted above can be achieved in any cheap oiffice space - including ones where everyone has their own private space/office.

mr_gibbins 4y ago

To echo the rest of the comments, hybrid is fine if and only if I get some kind of private space in the office itself, a cube is OK, a desk with partitions is OK, but I want to be able to isolate myself when necessary. A layout where someone can creep up and tap me on the shoulder? Not OK. Open plan where I can watch other people picking their nose? Not OK. But whiteboarding and social collaboration work best face-to-face, and I'm up for that, at least part-time. Our CEO has emailed around asking people to come in 2 days a week from next year, but the offices are open plan. This means my Q1 2023 to-do list now has 'find a new job' at the top of it.