I'm pretty sure that if you asked your developers point blank if they'd like a nice office with a door, they would. If you asked any developer who has actually

I'm pretty sure that if you asked your developers point blank if they'd like a nice office with a door, they would. If you asked any developer who has actually had an office at a previous job, and I'm 100% sure they'd be in favor. Young devs that have never dreamed such a dream might think they don't care. But they'd be hugely more productive in an office. It is the same thing as having a big monitor for your laptop. Once you have it, you'll just feel so unproductive without it. With an office you can just get in the zone and stay there as long as you like. With pair programming or discussions, you just pick one of your offices and shut the door. I found myself collaborating more in offices, because there is less worry about disturbing others. (Or the cognitive overhead of getting a conference room.) By being in the open plan yourself, you're sending a strong message that there is no way offices will be tolerated, so there isn't any point in asking.