4 ms·

Mentioned this on HN previously but as a nearly 40 year old developer who has been developing professionally for nearly 20 years -- it used to be the norm for p

Mentioned this on HN previously but as a nearly 40 year old developer who has been developing professionally for nearly 20 years -- it used to be the norm for programmers to get their own offices, even just the regular joe programmers... Places really tight for space might put two guys in a very spacious shared corner office... A few years into my career the idea of cubicles caught on and quickly became the norm, and now of course we're stuck with these horrible open offices that are, in my experience, just absolutely dreadful for productivity; but since everyone is doing it nobody really notices anymore.

cocoflunchy 13y ago
Absolutely relevant article by Joel Spolsky: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fieldguidetodevelopers.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fieldguidetodeveloper...
- shadeless 13y ago
  Also relevant video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=NF8ZVB-v3IM&t=1152 https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=NF...
itafroma 13y ago
> A few years into my career the idea of cubicles caught on and quickly became the norm, and now of course we're stuck with these horrible open offices that are, in my experience, just absolutely dreadful for productivity; but since everyone is doing it nobody really notices anymore. You can largely thank Jim McCarthy of Microsoft fame for that, who in the mid 90s coined the concept, "beware of a guy in a room": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY6BCHqEbyc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY6BCHqEbyc https://blogs.msdn.com/b/david_gristwood/archive/2004/06/24/164849.aspx https://blogs.msdn.com/b/david_gristwood/archive/2004/06/24/... http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/06/dont-go-dark.html http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/06/dont-go-dark.html
JabavuAdams 13y ago
The fundamental issue is a mismatch between crafting and coordinating roles. When I'm in a coordination role, open concept is better because I can hear everything in the office and route information accordingly. When I'm in a crafting role, open concept is death to productivity.

cocoflunchy 13y ago

Absolutely relevant article by Joel Spolsky: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fieldguidetodevelopers.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fieldguidetodeveloper...

shadeless 13y ago
Also relevant video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=NF8ZVB-v3IM&t=1152 https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=NF...

itafroma 13y ago

> A few years into my career the idea of cubicles caught on and quickly became the norm, and now of course we're stuck with these horrible open offices that are, in my experience, just absolutely dreadful for productivity; but since everyone is doing it nobody really notices anymore. You can largely thank Jim McCarthy of Microsoft fame for that, who in the mid 90s coined the concept, "beware of a guy in a room": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY6BCHqEbyc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY6BCHqEbyc https://blogs.msdn.com/b/david_gristwood/archive/2004/06/24/164849.aspx https://blogs.msdn.com/b/david_gristwood/archive/2004/06/24/... http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/06/dont-go-dark.html http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/06/dont-go-dark.html

JabavuAdams 13y ago

The fundamental issue is a mismatch between crafting and coordinating roles. When I'm in a coordination role, open concept is better because I can hear everything in the office and route information accordingly. When I'm in a crafting role, open concept is death to productivity.