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> Also in all these articles they say "its too noisy..." Has no one ever heard of headphones. They let each individual employee get the best level of noise they

> Also in all these articles they say "its too noisy..." Has no one ever heard of headphones. They let each individual employee get the best level of noise they need. Want it quiet get a set of sound isolating headphones and put on quiet background noise. Do you like music to work to go ahead and put that on. Do you like the organic background of distant communication and the peaceful methodical hum of the ventilation system. Leave the headphones off and enjoy it. What I have found as the big turning point is you need to have an entire office that is respectful of others no matter what floor plan you have. If one worker insists on playing loud music or having conference calls all day no matter what set up you have chances are he will be annoying his direct neighbors. All of these items are fixed by giving me an office with a door. If I want interaction and noise, then I'll open the door, head out to the shared conference floor space and work from there. I'm not sure why more offices don't do this by default these days.

jaredmcateer 13y ago
I prefer my brother in law's set up, it's an inverse of what you want, open office but with isolation caves assigned to no one that can be used when you need silence. I think making isolation an opt-in rather than opt-out makes for a much more inclusive environment.
- res0nat0r 13y ago
  I think "inclusive" is really getting over rated by so called "efficiency experts"...My last gig had these "focus booths" occupied by a single person all day every day. They used them as their offices because they wanted to concentrate in silence.
- mattgreenrocks 13y ago
  Inclusive? I'm not at the office to socialize, I'm there to focus and do work.
  - jaredmcateer 13y ago
    I think that's a false dichotomy. Without socialization it's very difficult to understand the people you're working with and this, in my experience, is often the root of friction between teams and departments.
    - res0nat0r 13y ago
      I've been working from home with my distributed team all over the USA (and world) for over a year now. I haven't met a few of them ever in person yet. Our company and team are doing fine just socializing over Skype and conference calls / Google Hangout (occasionally) when needed. Someone doesn't need to be sitting right next to me able to interrupt me whenever they like to "promote synergy"

jaredmcateer 13y ago

I prefer my brother in law's set up, it's an inverse of what you want, open office but with isolation caves assigned to no one that can be used when you need silence. I think making isolation an opt-in rather than opt-out makes for a much more inclusive environment.

res0nat0r 13y ago
I think "inclusive" is really getting over rated by so called "efficiency experts"...My last gig had these "focus booths" occupied by a single person all day every day. They used them as their offices because they wanted to concentrate in silence.
mattgreenrocks 13y ago
Inclusive? I'm not at the office to socialize, I'm there to focus and do work.
- jaredmcateer 13y ago
  I think that's a false dichotomy. Without socialization it's very difficult to understand the people you're working with and this, in my experience, is often the root of friction between teams and departments.
  - res0nat0r 13y ago
    I've been working from home with my distributed team all over the USA (and world) for over a year now. I haven't met a few of them ever in person yet. Our company and team are doing fine just socializing over Skype and conference calls / Google Hangout (occasionally) when needed. Someone doesn't need to be sitting right next to me able to interrupt me whenever they like to "promote synergy"