Agreed - there is no one "true" solution, as is the case with many things. There are times when I value the (semi) privacy of my cubicle for getting into a foc

Agreed - there is no one "true" solution, as is the case with many things. There are times when I value the (semi) privacy of my cubicle for getting into a focused flow for hours. At this time, I do not want to be interrupted. At other times, I value being able to take my laptop into a conference room with a bunch of other developers. Each layout has its own strengths. When interpersonal communication is paramount (i.e. a new project getting started, lots of unknowns, trying to define who's going to do what, etc.) then the conference room approach works. When I have a well-defined feature to implement, the hunkered-down approach works well.