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I sit in an office with desks with half-height dividers. I enjoy it. A while ago our company expanded into another floor, and my product's team was moved there

I sit in an office with desks with half-height dividers. I enjoy it. A while ago our company expanded into another floor, and my product's team was moved there (dev, QA, product, services, support). Previously the layout was arranged more by department than product. Pretty much everyone on the team loves it, and has felt a major boost in productivity and team cohesion, as virtually anyone you might need is "right there" in the room with you, and you can tune in to some of the chatter for an organic understanding of what everyone's up to. I imagine if everyone were in offices it would feel dead and empty, and totally kill the team spirit. I think the only thing we're missing is more ad-hoc space - more conference rooms for breakout groups and individuals seeking temporary escape from the floor.

Karunamon 13y ago
Given that environment, what do you do when you're trying to concentrate on a particularly challenging issue and you need to tune out the chatter and what others are doing?
- resu_nimda 13y ago
  For me personally it's not much of an issue, it's just not that distracting. I just don't listen, and if someone addresses me directly I tell them I'm busy. I don't use headphones either because I tend to focus too much on the music. I realize that this isn't viable for everyone, which is why I think we need more rooms for people to have that isolation when they need it. edit: There certainly are times where I experience a lot of interruptions, and I'm glad for the after-hours when most people have left. But those interruptions are generally pretty necessary, because important things are happening. On the whole I think it is a net positive for teams that work together to be "on the floor" together.
- mahyarm 13y ago
  I think if you have a good culture around open offices, then it's a lot better. If you have a bunch of people who have loud conversations without moving it to a meeting room, interrupt you constantly, don't respect the headphone rule, micromange and shoulder surf vs. treat it as the quiet library environment it should be then it can pretty bad.
  - pbreit 13y ago
    Why should people have to worry about all gross lame situations? What is open office delivering to overcome those limitations? A bit of serendipity?
    - mahyarm 13y ago
      Money, it's cheaper to do open offices, especially in a startup vs giving a good chunk of people private offices or even shared offices.

Karunamon 13y ago

Given that environment, what do you do when you're trying to concentrate on a particularly challenging issue and you need to tune out the chatter and what others are doing?

resu_nimda 13y ago
For me personally it's not much of an issue, it's just not that distracting. I just don't listen, and if someone addresses me directly I tell them I'm busy. I don't use headphones either because I tend to focus too much on the music. I realize that this isn't viable for everyone, which is why I think we need more rooms for people to have that isolation when they need it. edit: There certainly are times where I experience a lot of interruptions, and I'm glad for the after-hours when most people have left. But those interruptions are generally pretty necessary, because important things are happening. On the whole I think it is a net positive for teams that work together to be "on the floor" together.
mahyarm 13y ago
I think if you have a good culture around open offices, then it's a lot better. If you have a bunch of people who have loud conversations without moving it to a meeting room, interrupt you constantly, don't respect the headphone rule, micromange and shoulder surf vs. treat it as the quiet library environment it should be then it can pretty bad.
- pbreit 13y ago
  Why should people have to worry about all gross lame situations? What is open office delivering to overcome those limitations? A bit of serendipity?
  - mahyarm 13y ago
    Money, it's cheaper to do open offices, especially in a startup vs giving a good chunk of people private offices or even shared offices.