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Like the author I was fortunate enough to be exposed to Dilbert as a teenager, before I got caught up in the rush of the university-professional-yuppie-industri

Like the author I was fortunate enough to be exposed to Dilbert as a teenager, before I got caught up in the rush of the university-professional-yuppie-industrial-complex. I found the Dilbert principle book in my parents downstairs cloakroom (wedged between magazines and other generic bathroom reading material). At a superficial level I just read the comic strips in the book and laughed, I thought to myself - haha look at those poor corporate workers, that won't happen to me. In a way it didn't happen to me vis-a-vis cubicles, suits and water cooler gossip, TPS reports etc. However, in other ways it did happen to me, the frustrations of working with incompetent people, working in teams who brainwash themselves that they are making something useful or being productive, hilarious executive decisions made without any scientific or rational thought. (startup - https://youtu.be/iwan0xJ_irU https://youtu.be/iwan0xJ_irU) I still like to add Dilbert comic strips to closing slides in presentations, my go to one is this, when we are discussing new technologies to use. https://tenor.com/nJfQSXLP8am.gif https://tenor.com/nJfQSXLP8am.gif We are in the Dilbert universe, it just keeps changing p.s. if anyone is looking for Saturday TV binge material, all of the Dilbert TV show is on Youtube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH7dgUq5Qe4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH7dgUq5Qe4

fmbb 9mo ago
For someone who has only been exposed to open office landscapes those cubicles seem like a dream.
- neogodless 9mo ago
  I haven't seen full height cubicles since my 2006-2011 job. Still even half-height cubicle desks tended to give you a good sense of "your space" relative to the open concept rows of tables/flat desks. Currently I go to the office once a week, where I sit at a tiny mobile desk pressed against the side of someone else's cubicle. I'm almost "in" a walkway. Can't imagine how that interferes with focus!
- arealaccount 9mo ago
  Personally I hated them they felt dehumanizing, and loved my first open floor company I also don’t like WFH, I wonder if people who like open plans also like RTO
  - tmtvl 9mo ago
    I like being able to work at the office because then I don't have to pay for electricity and internet, although commuting is bad for my ecological footprint. I will never support forcing RTO on people who prefer WFH, nor the opposite (unless dire circumstances mandate it, like a pandemic or other natural disaster). I can tolerate open offices, but prefer plans with private spaces which make it easier to go into and maintain full focus mode. I've never done pair programming, but I imagine I would like it, if me and my colleague use my computer (set up how I like it, Dvorak layout and everything) for my part of the programming and we switch to my colleague's computer when it's their turn.
  - arcfour 9mo ago
    You love noise, interruptions, and a lack of privacy?
    - caminante 9mo ago
      (you replied to wrong comment, parent instead of grandparent) It suits people that coffee badge and serves as a way to scan who actually came in on a "required" office day. Both are signs of dysfunction.
      - 2b3a51 9mo ago
        TIL I learned about coffee-badging[1]. Sounds like, oddly enough, eighteenth century London when coffee houses provided venues for business transactions. People (ok men of the right class) toddled around visiting various offices and patronising coffee houses. Everyone knew the players. [2][3] I think this might be a good development. Meet to drink beverage and achieve 'common understanding' in the sense of the Royal Navy. Then disperse to various private locations to actually carry out the tasks. Would suit a '15 minute' city layout very well. [1] https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1864443/buzz-phrase-brewing-so-coffee-badging https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1864443/buzz-phra... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_coffeehouses_in_the_17th_and_18th_centuries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_coffeehouses_in_the_17... [3] https://www.layersoflondon.org/map/records/virginia-and-baltick-coffee-house https://www.layersoflondon.org/map/records/virginia-and-balt...
- dpark 9mo ago
  Cubicles are terrible. Especially the full height ones. They have all the same noisy neighbor problems as open spaces but you’re stuck in a tiny box all day. You get a tiny modicum of privacy but not enough to make up for feeling like you’re stuck in a gray box all day.
B-Con 9mo ago
I used to have that strip on a t-shirt as a teen.

fmbb 9mo ago

For someone who has only been exposed to open office landscapes those cubicles seem like a dream.

neogodless 9mo ago
I haven't seen full height cubicles since my 2006-2011 job. Still even half-height cubicle desks tended to give you a good sense of "your space" relative to the open concept rows of tables/flat desks. Currently I go to the office once a week, where I sit at a tiny mobile desk pressed against the side of someone else's cubicle. I'm almost "in" a walkway. Can't imagine how that interferes with focus!
arealaccount 9mo ago
Personally I hated them they felt dehumanizing, and loved my first open floor company I also don’t like WFH, I wonder if people who like open plans also like RTO
- tmtvl 9mo ago
  I like being able to work at the office because then I don't have to pay for electricity and internet, although commuting is bad for my ecological footprint. I will never support forcing RTO on people who prefer WFH, nor the opposite (unless dire circumstances mandate it, like a pandemic or other natural disaster). I can tolerate open offices, but prefer plans with private spaces which make it easier to go into and maintain full focus mode. I've never done pair programming, but I imagine I would like it, if me and my colleague use my computer (set up how I like it, Dvorak layout and everything) for my part of the programming and we switch to my colleague's computer when it's their turn.
- arcfour 9mo ago
  You love noise, interruptions, and a lack of privacy?
  - caminante 9mo ago
    (you replied to wrong comment, parent instead of grandparent) It suits people that coffee badge and serves as a way to scan who actually came in on a "required" office day. Both are signs of dysfunction.
    - 2b3a51 9mo ago
      TIL I learned about coffee-badging[1]. Sounds like, oddly enough, eighteenth century London when coffee houses provided venues for business transactions. People (ok men of the right class) toddled around visiting various offices and patronising coffee houses. Everyone knew the players. [2][3] I think this might be a good development. Meet to drink beverage and achieve 'common understanding' in the sense of the Royal Navy. Then disperse to various private locations to actually carry out the tasks. Would suit a '15 minute' city layout very well. [1] https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1864443/buzz-phrase-brewing-so-coffee-badging https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1864443/buzz-phra... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_coffeehouses_in_the_17th_and_18th_centuries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_coffeehouses_in_the_17... [3] https://www.layersoflondon.org/map/records/virginia-and-baltick-coffee-house https://www.layersoflondon.org/map/records/virginia-and-balt...
dpark 9mo ago
Cubicles are terrible. Especially the full height ones. They have all the same noisy neighbor problems as open spaces but you’re stuck in a tiny box all day. You get a tiny modicum of privacy but not enough to make up for feeling like you’re stuck in a gray box all day.

B-Con 9mo ago

I used to have that strip on a t-shirt as a teen.