4 ms·

I know this is sounds strange, but cubes can be nice from an operations standpoint. It gives you access to other cube mates fairly easily, which is essential in

by caw 14y ago

I know this is sounds strange, but cubes can be nice from an operations standpoint. It gives you access to other cube mates fairly easily, which is essential in trying to keep stuff running. While I would prefer a private or semi-private office, keep in mind there comes a point where you're growing and there's not enough offices. You either live with it for a while and you end up with new hires getting stuck in crazy places, or you have to move offices which is a pain. Given the choice between sitting in an entranceway of 3 private offices (basically a larger room chopped into 3 private offices, with shared space in between), or in a cube, I'd pick the cube. That same business then decided that they needed cubes, so they destroyed 3 private offices, and stuck in cubes. Since the room wasn't designed for that, the cube arrangement was strange and not conducive to working together. From experience, avoid whiteboard wallpaper. It gets trashy and it's hard to replace because it's glued to the wall. You also don't have a tray for your markers. Height adjustable desks are amazing, having gone through an office upgrade that included the installation of them. My old fixed desk wasn't exactly the right height, so you have to make all sorts of other ergo adjustments.

EliRivers 14y ago
"It gives you access to other cube mates fairly easily" If those cube-mates have to spend a lot of time thinking about things, this can be very bad news indeed. I see it all the time, and I think DeMarco poked at it in Peopleware all those years ago. If it takes someone ten to fifteen minutes to get into a mental flow situation, holding the context of their task in their head and thinking about, a cube-mate leaning over to ask something they could have looked up for themselves in a minute saves that cube-mate one minute, and costs the interrupted thinker several minutes to get back into flow. I even see it reach the point where people who know they really need to think about something gather up their paper and disappear elsewhere in the building.
- caw 14y ago
  I agree with everything you said. People do disappear, WFH, and put up do not disturb signs. However, this is from an operations standpoint, where heavy collaboration is needed to get stuff done. It may not be good for a pure programming shop.

by caw 14y ago

EliRivers 14y ago

"It gives you access to other cube mates fairly easily" If those cube-mates have to spend a lot of time thinking about things, this can be very bad news indeed. I see it all the time, and I think DeMarco poked at it in Peopleware all those years ago. If it takes someone ten to fifteen minutes to get into a mental flow situation, holding the context of their task in their head and thinking about, a cube-mate leaning over to ask something they could have looked up for themselves in a minute saves that cube-mate one minute, and costs the interrupted thinker several minutes to get back into flow. I even see it reach the point where people who know they really need to think about something gather up their paper and disappear elsewhere in the building.

caw 14y ago
I agree with everything you said. People do disappear, WFH, and put up do not disturb signs. However, this is from an operations standpoint, where heavy collaboration is needed to get stuff done. It may not be good for a pure programming shop.