23 ms·

open plan offices were the norm until the 1960s. I can't stand them either, just point out that they were the norm except for a 35-year period.

by gumby 3y ago

ilyt 3y ago
Sure and mud huts were there way longer than any kind of office but neither this or that is relevant now. 35 year is almost entirety of the working age if you started working after uni
015UUZn8aEvW 3y ago
What I really hate about open offices is the fishbowl effect. Having someone behind my back and staring at whatever's on my computer screen feels extremely uncomfortable. I do a lot of technical drawings. It feels way different to be in an open workspace with a horizontal drafting board (which is what I would have had prior to the 1990s) than with a brightly-lit, vertical screen. You have more privacy, even in an open space.
- 13of40 3y ago
  One way to mitigate this is to get into a position where it's illegal for someone to look over your shoulder. Barring one two-year stretch a decade ago I've always had a private office.
  - paulryanrogers 3y ago
    In what positions is it illegal? HR? CSM?
glaucon 3y ago
> open plan offices were the norm until the 1960s. I remember visiting the workplaces of both of my parents in the 1970's and neither were anything like open plan. I know you said "1960s" but the buildings my parents were working in were well established at the time and had been there since, at least the 1960's.
- ghaff 3y ago
  When I interviewed with Boeing in 80s, it was large rooms filled with desks an no partitions with managers around the perimeter. (The company I took a job with had private offices but there was obviously a lot of variation.) Later in the 80s I had the stereotypical cubicles.
michaelteter 3y ago
> open plan offices were the norm until the 1960s I did not know this. However, pre-1980+ (or later), most workers were probably head-down looking at paper on their physical desktop. And surely more of them had actual offices compared to the cubical 80s-2000s or open offices 2000+. Also, I would assume that pre-voip technology meant that salespeople were not yelling into their phones for the "joy" of their open-office-mates as they were 2000+.
- marcosdumay 3y ago
  > most workers were probably head-down looking at paper on their physical desktop Not really. If you go back to the 50's you will find armies of people looking down at paper, reading and writing, but not most. By the 80's all of those people had machines on their desks, while most didn't do paper work. I believe the majority of people only started doing information (since the paper isn't there anymore) work this century on the rich countries. On many countries they didn't yet. Also, sales people were always loud.
  - throwaway2037 3y ago
    By the 80's all of those people had machines on their desks What kind of machines? Computers? My father was an office worker his whole life. He didn't get a PC on his desk until the 90s. Before, he had a type writer.
    - marcosdumay 3y ago
      Writing machines, calculators, card organizers, whatever counter, etc. All of them loud.
- gumby 3y ago
  The cubicle was invented in the 60s as a way of liberating workers from the tyranny of the open plan. To give people their own space. Ironic that it became its own oppression.
  - 3y ago

open plan offices were the norm until the 1960s. I can't stand them either, just point out that they were the norm except for a 35-year period.

by gumby 3y ago

open plan offices were the norm until the 1960s. I can't stand them either, just point out that they were the norm except for a 35-year period.

ilyt 3y ago

Sure and mud huts were there way longer than any kind of office but neither this or that is relevant now. 35 year is almost entirety of the working age if you started working after uni

015UUZn8aEvW 3y ago

What I really hate about open offices is the fishbowl effect. Having someone behind my back and staring at whatever's on my computer screen feels extremely uncomfortable. I do a lot of technical drawings. It feels way different to be in an open workspace with a horizontal drafting board (which is what I would have had prior to the 1990s) than with a brightly-lit, vertical screen. You have more privacy, even in an open space.

13of40 3y ago
One way to mitigate this is to get into a position where it's illegal for someone to look over your shoulder. Barring one two-year stretch a decade ago I've always had a private office.
- paulryanrogers 3y ago
  In what positions is it illegal? HR? CSM?

glaucon 3y ago

> open plan offices were the norm until the 1960s. I remember visiting the workplaces of both of my parents in the 1970's and neither were anything like open plan. I know you said "1960s" but the buildings my parents were working in were well established at the time and had been there since, at least the 1960's.

ghaff 3y ago
When I interviewed with Boeing in 80s, it was large rooms filled with desks an no partitions with managers around the perimeter. (The company I took a job with had private offices but there was obviously a lot of variation.) Later in the 80s I had the stereotypical cubicles.

michaelteter 3y ago

> open plan offices were the norm until the 1960s I did not know this. However, pre-1980+ (or later), most workers were probably head-down looking at paper on their physical desktop. And surely more of them had actual offices compared to the cubical 80s-2000s or open offices 2000+. Also, I would assume that pre-voip technology meant that salespeople were not yelling into their phones for the "joy" of their open-office-mates as they were 2000+.

marcosdumay 3y ago
> most workers were probably head-down looking at paper on their physical desktop Not really. If you go back to the 50's you will find armies of people looking down at paper, reading and writing, but not most. By the 80's all of those people had machines on their desks, while most didn't do paper work. I believe the majority of people only started doing information (since the paper isn't there anymore) work this century on the rich countries. On many countries they didn't yet. Also, sales people were always loud.
- throwaway2037 3y ago
  By the 80's all of those people had machines on their desks What kind of machines? Computers? My father was an office worker his whole life. He didn't get a PC on his desk until the 90s. Before, he had a type writer.
  - marcosdumay 3y ago
    Writing machines, calculators, card organizers, whatever counter, etc. All of them loud.
gumby 3y ago
The cubicle was invented in the 60s as a way of liberating workers from the tyranny of the open plan. To give people their own space. Ironic that it became its own oppression.
- 3y ago