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I gave a talk on this topic [1], and about 60% of the audience was cheering and totally for this. But I got a small number of people coming up afterwards and sa

by pbiggar 13y ago

I gave a talk on this topic [1], and about 60% of the audience was cheering and totally for this. But I got a small number of people coming up afterwards and saying they much preferred open plan. So I think there's definitely a downside: developers enjoy work less because it's less social, and less collaborate. I think overall the benefit is there though. Does anyone know how much it costs to have private offices all round? My estimate was that a 1sqft/yr is $55 in SF right now, so the 100-150sqft for 1 open plan desk is $700, and you might need twice as much space to give people (small) private offices. Would love something more accurate though. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYk1YkCRuKQ&t=43m17s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYk1YkCRuKQ&t=43m17s

codeonfire 13y ago
There are people that want to collaborate with other people of the same skill level. But the majority of people that want to collaborate just don't know what they are doing and can't do their jobs. If people want a more social and collaborative job, maybe they shouldn't choose software developer as a career.
greenyoda 13y ago
100-150 square feet would also make a reasonably sized office for a single person to work in (mine is about 110 square feet and doesn't feel cramped). The thing that makes private offices more expensive from a construction point of view is: - You have to put up walls and doors: studs, wallboard, painting, running cables through walls. And once you put up those walls and doors, you need to knock them down again to reconfigure the space. - A closed office needs its own dedicated heating and air-conditioning ducts, power/network distribution, overhead lighting, smoke detector, sprinkler, etc. In an open plan, these can be shared among several work spaces.
donw 13y ago
If the annual cost of giving each $120k+ engineer his own office is $1k, and if that increased his productivity by a mere 1%, you would still make more money and have a much easier time hiring.

by pbiggar 13y ago

codeonfire 13y ago

There are people that want to collaborate with other people of the same skill level. But the majority of people that want to collaborate just don't know what they are doing and can't do their jobs. If people want a more social and collaborative job, maybe they shouldn't choose software developer as a career.

greenyoda 13y ago

100-150 square feet would also make a reasonably sized office for a single person to work in (mine is about 110 square feet and doesn't feel cramped). The thing that makes private offices more expensive from a construction point of view is: - You have to put up walls and doors: studs, wallboard, painting, running cables through walls. And once you put up those walls and doors, you need to knock them down again to reconfigure the space. - A closed office needs its own dedicated heating and air-conditioning ducts, power/network distribution, overhead lighting, smoke detector, sprinkler, etc. In an open plan, these can be shared among several work spaces.

donw 13y ago

If the annual cost of giving each $120k+ engineer his own office is $1k, and if that increased his productivity by a mere 1%, you would still make more money and have a much easier time hiring.