4 ms·

Every sweatshop is an open plan. Open plan was never trendy. It's a way to cut cost. Calling it trendy is like saying starving people are on a trendy diet. That

Every sweatshop is an open plan. Open plan was never trendy. It's a way to cut cost. Calling it trendy is like saying starving people are on a trendy diet. That's just insulting. Everyone wants their own office. A cubicle is the next best thing. Open plan is the worst and cheapest option. I've never had a boss who didn't have his own office. Going from cubicle to open plan is an obvious downgrade.

brabel 4y ago
You may be right that this was the actual motivation, but it was and still is often justified as some sort of cutting edge way to spread ideas and "foster communication" and I know lots of people who bought those stupid ideas.
rjh29 4y ago
Cubicle isn't that much more expensive than open plan, especially when you are paying devs $200-300k a year. I think it's more about "fostering communication" and making the workspace "appear to be" more enjoyable. Of course we devs know it's a horrible distracting environment.
- dijit 4y ago
  I heard the same, but there is no peer reviewed paper that has ever claimed that open office environments foster collaboration or assist communication. Rather, every single study has asserted that it decreases communication. Yet, it's clung to. Which is why I think it's purely a cost saving (or flexibility?) move. Office managers must love not having to care about how teams are sized? Only thing I can think of.
whiplash451 4y ago
True, but not every open plan is a sweatshop. There are many shades of gray. In an open space, you can have sound walls, pods that people can use for calls, add meeting rooms, isolate noisy places like the kitchen, etc.
JohnFen 4y ago
And people forget that before the invention of the cubicle, open office plans were the norm for nonmanagement office workers. The cubicle was viewed by these workers as a wonderful thing, because it brought an end to the nightmare of the open office.
- ghaff 4y ago
  When I interviewed with Boeing in the early 80s, their setup was a big open area filled with individual desks and ringed by offices with big glass partitions.

brabel 4y ago

You may be right that this was the actual motivation, but it was and still is often justified as some sort of cutting edge way to spread ideas and "foster communication" and I know lots of people who bought those stupid ideas.

rjh29 4y ago

Cubicle isn't that much more expensive than open plan, especially when you are paying devs $200-300k a year. I think it's more about "fostering communication" and making the workspace "appear to be" more enjoyable. Of course we devs know it's a horrible distracting environment.

dijit 4y ago
I heard the same, but there is no peer reviewed paper that has ever claimed that open office environments foster collaboration or assist communication. Rather, every single study has asserted that it decreases communication. Yet, it's clung to. Which is why I think it's purely a cost saving (or flexibility?) move. Office managers must love not having to care about how teams are sized? Only thing I can think of.

whiplash451 4y ago

True, but not every open plan is a sweatshop. There are many shades of gray. In an open space, you can have sound walls, pods that people can use for calls, add meeting rooms, isolate noisy places like the kitchen, etc.

JohnFen 4y ago

And people forget that before the invention of the cubicle, open office plans were the norm for nonmanagement office workers. The cubicle was viewed by these workers as a wonderful thing, because it brought an end to the nightmare of the open office.

ghaff 4y ago
When I interviewed with Boeing in the early 80s, their setup was a big open area filled with individual desks and ringed by offices with big glass partitions.