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I have never been productive in open office spaces and then saw an HBS study showing empirical data on the things I felt all along: https://royalsocietypublishi

I have never been productive in open office spaces and then saw an HBS study showing empirical data on the things I felt all along: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2017.0239 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2017.023... I totally see the value of cultivating ideas in a private space without constant background noise, and then sharing these ideas with the right arguments for feedback when you see them as ripe. Unfortunately, the narrative by big tech has popularized the notion that these open spaces with everyone speaking over each other has great productivity and collaboration benefits. It saves them a lot of cost to not build and maintain humane cubes, but other arguments of how great it is for "me" are just bogus.

andreygrehov 3y ago
Interesting. That link deserves its own submission.
- vijayr02 3y ago
  Here you go: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36889478 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36889478
tasbir49 3y ago
I've never worked in an open office space myself. I imagine there'd be a lot of distractions due to the factors you've listed. It's not that difficult to go up to someone else's cubicle for a chat.
- darkclouds 3y ago
  I've worked in various size open offices, they can best be described like financial trading floors, some are busy and chaotic, some are not. The main point with an open office, is people can shout across the room quickly and easily when they want something from someone else which may need an immediate response or response in the timescales said office works to when resolving problems. ie some offices need to resolve things by the end of day, others need to resolve problems within a few days. Its also a lazy way of communicating without a document trail like a messaging system can provide. Very difficult to manage, accountability is virtually at zero, so if you have a team which doesn't work or has personality clashes, that's a team which will perform poorly, but still look super busy. Seating arrangements are interesting as well, you can spot hierarchies. It probably explains the saying, if you want something done properly, do it yourself!
  - dkersten 3y ago
    Shouting across the room saves one person 15 seconds while simultaneously distracting every single other person in the office. Regardless of how pro-open office one is, that seems like a terrible trade off. > day, others need to resolve problems within a few days. Its also a lazy way of communicating without a document trail like a messaging system can provide. This is the biggest benefit of a slack-first (or whatever your messaging software of choice is) approach. It’s very common that I search chat history from weeks or months ago because someone already answered something that I need to refer back to.
memefrog 3y ago
Trust HN to turn every single thread into an opportunity to rail against open office spaces.
- thefurdrake 3y ago
  They're a very-objectionable topic! Complaining will continue until office spaces stop being so open.

andreygrehov 3y ago

Interesting. That link deserves its own submission.

vijayr02 3y ago
Here you go: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36889478 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36889478

tasbir49 3y ago

I've never worked in an open office space myself. I imagine there'd be a lot of distractions due to the factors you've listed. It's not that difficult to go up to someone else's cubicle for a chat.

darkclouds 3y ago
I've worked in various size open offices, they can best be described like financial trading floors, some are busy and chaotic, some are not. The main point with an open office, is people can shout across the room quickly and easily when they want something from someone else which may need an immediate response or response in the timescales said office works to when resolving problems. ie some offices need to resolve things by the end of day, others need to resolve problems within a few days. Its also a lazy way of communicating without a document trail like a messaging system can provide. Very difficult to manage, accountability is virtually at zero, so if you have a team which doesn't work or has personality clashes, that's a team which will perform poorly, but still look super busy. Seating arrangements are interesting as well, you can spot hierarchies. It probably explains the saying, if you want something done properly, do it yourself!
- dkersten 3y ago
  Shouting across the room saves one person 15 seconds while simultaneously distracting every single other person in the office. Regardless of how pro-open office one is, that seems like a terrible trade off. > day, others need to resolve problems within a few days. Its also a lazy way of communicating without a document trail like a messaging system can provide. This is the biggest benefit of a slack-first (or whatever your messaging software of choice is) approach. It’s very common that I search chat history from weeks or months ago because someone already answered something that I need to refer back to.

memefrog 3y ago

Trust HN to turn every single thread into an opportunity to rail against open office spaces.

thefurdrake 3y ago
They're a very-objectionable topic! Complaining will continue until office spaces stop being so open.