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We are different and a lot of "these" matters are subjective. E.g. some use Vim while others use Emacs and some people prefer to work from home while others pre

by amix 18y ago

We are different and a lot of "these" matters are subjective. E.g. some use Vim while others use Emacs and some people prefer to work from home while others prefer to work from an office. What's better is not that objective and people should do what they feel best with.

pasbesoin 18y ago
What can be very frustrating in a corporate environment is the unrelenting "one size fits all" attitude. Your workspace. Your toolset (not just what language to use, where I can understand a need to standardize, but what editor and utilities and such). Your flexibility is limited to what pictures you put on your desk. For me, the distraction in an open space environment kills my productivity. I don't want to be disconnected from my coworkers, but I can't take the constant noise and immediate presence. I get along much worse in such a situation. Give me a little separation, and I'm much more relaxed and focused in face to face meetings, on the phone, in email and IM. When things are like this, I do quite well. Then something will change and the work environment will suck again. I'll tell my management exactly what has happened and why my productivity has declined. But there is nothing they can do. "But we all work in cubes" is one response I received. One size fits all. If we do it for you, everyone will want it. We must treat everyone "equally". In the name of "fairness", they force department management to turn a blind eye to individual variances and differing needs. At least working from home seems to provide some disconnect, in the company's mind. The home environment is not their jurisdiction, and your performance is measured more in terms of results rather than conformity. One suggestion I have with regard to open space: If you insist on it for your employees, then let them self segregate to some extent. There is always a subset that wants a quieter work environment, but they are spread throughout the organization. Let them colocate in a designated quiet area, akin to the "quiet floor / quiet hall" arrangement at some colleges and universities. I suppose this would be viewed as overly burdensome in terms of management. Further, I've observed a continued strong drive to physically colocate team members whenever they are at the same facility. But it would take no more physical space, and it would make that portion of the population much happier and more productive. Next step, let them use decent tools. Don't force them to do finger gymnastics because you keep them on the 5-releases-past version of some commercial editor that has been "blessed". But now I'm just dreaming...

by amix 18y ago

pasbesoin 18y ago

What can be very frustrating in a corporate environment is the unrelenting "one size fits all" attitude. Your workspace. Your toolset (not just what language to use, where I can understand a need to standardize, but what editor and utilities and such). Your flexibility is limited to what pictures you put on your desk. For me, the distraction in an open space environment kills my productivity. I don't want to be disconnected from my coworkers, but I can't take the constant noise and immediate presence. I get along much worse in such a situation. Give me a little separation, and I'm much more relaxed and focused in face to face meetings, on the phone, in email and IM. When things are like this, I do quite well. Then something will change and the work environment will suck again. I'll tell my management exactly what has happened and why my productivity has declined. But there is nothing they can do. "But we all work in cubes" is one response I received. One size fits all. If we do it for you, everyone will want it. We must treat everyone "equally". In the name of "fairness", they force department management to turn a blind eye to individual variances and differing needs. At least working from home seems to provide some disconnect, in the company's mind. The home environment is not their jurisdiction, and your performance is measured more in terms of results rather than conformity. One suggestion I have with regard to open space: If you insist on it for your employees, then let them self segregate to some extent. There is always a subset that wants a quieter work environment, but they are spread throughout the organization. Let them colocate in a designated quiet area, akin to the "quiet floor / quiet hall" arrangement at some colleges and universities. I suppose this would be viewed as overly burdensome in terms of management. Further, I've observed a continued strong drive to physically colocate team members whenever they are at the same facility. But it would take no more physical space, and it would make that portion of the population much happier and more productive. Next step, let them use decent tools. Don't force them to do finger gymnastics because you keep them on the 5-releases-past version of some commercial editor that has been "blessed". But now I'm just dreaming...