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One of the other issues is that I don't hate the office in principle. However open plan, sales folks yelling on a phone, demands that I don't wear headphones t

One of the other issues is that I don't hate the office in principle. However open plan, sales folks yelling on a phone, demands that I don't wear headphones to drown it out, is all so draining. I remember the lead up to Christmas 2019, some fucking idiots decided that what we really needed in the open plan office, where I'm already positioned near the café, was removal of mini-meeting rooms, and 2 hours of carollers. I don't want to listen to some people singing their echoing Christmas songs in a "jazzy" way. I still had to do calls and support other teams who I couldn't hear over the noise. If working from the office actually meant having a small closed off space for my team so we could collaborate, have meetings, design sessions and planning it would be great. If going to the office meant having other teams available to whiteboard their problems in an available meeting room, come up with a plan and roadmap the improvements it would be great. However they got rid of offices for teams, they got rid of cubicles so that other people's calls would at least be muffled, they got rid of partitions between people's breakout spaces and the rest of the floor so I have to listen to inane conversations at other people standups. If this kid wants an office because he needs social interaction, that's fine. We can do a hacking session once a week. We can go to the office to plan and design fortnightly. I've done paired programming, problem investigation, where we have just an open call between two people and a screenshare so that you aren't alone and we can talk it through. In principle the office is a social space with productivity possibilities. In practice, most companies appear to want to make the office the most unpleasant location to be.

red-iron-pine 4y ago
To paraphrase a coworker, they demand productivity... but then manage to make the office the most unpleasant, unproductive environment available. An uncomfortable desk and ancient HP monitors, none of which I can upgrade or change; loud coworkers; tons of unrelated teams, for whom sharing space is unnecessary; and calls with people, most of whom aren't even in the same city (or timezone). Meanwhile I can do all of that at home, more effectively, with far more flexibility.
- ThomasRedstone 4y ago
  Yup, my home office has 2x 27" monitors, my camera is just right, as is the mic, I've got a deep, 2m wide real wood sit-stand electric desk, a Aeron chair, all my stuff is right here, it's quiet (though I can always play music loud if I want) and lighting is just right. I'm within 2 minutes walk of a shop and take-away. No office I've ever worked at came close, the closest I've had was having dual monitors, as for shops, most offices took longer to get to the front door, never mind actually reach anywhere!

red-iron-pine 4y ago

To paraphrase a coworker, they demand productivity... but then manage to make the office the most unpleasant, unproductive environment available. An uncomfortable desk and ancient HP monitors, none of which I can upgrade or change; loud coworkers; tons of unrelated teams, for whom sharing space is unnecessary; and calls with people, most of whom aren't even in the same city (or timezone). Meanwhile I can do all of that at home, more effectively, with far more flexibility.

ThomasRedstone 4y ago
Yup, my home office has 2x 27" monitors, my camera is just right, as is the mic, I've got a deep, 2m wide real wood sit-stand electric desk, a Aeron chair, all my stuff is right here, it's quiet (though I can always play music loud if I want) and lighting is just right. I'm within 2 minutes walk of a shop and take-away. No office I've ever worked at came close, the closest I've had was having dual monitors, as for shops, most offices took longer to get to the front door, never mind actually reach anywhere!