5 ms·

I Hate Open Floorplans

sharemywin 13y ago
Couldn't agree more about the flow thing. same reason programmer complain about meetings. although once you go back to a cube you start to feel isolated.
jayhuang 13y ago
I too, hate open floor plans. At one of my previous jobs, we had 2 developers on a team with a couple BI analysts, designers, marketing people. Truth is, I enjoyed their company. They were a pretty good group of people to be around. Only problem was the constant interruptions that would occur. Either by people who were looking for another co-worker who was not at their desk, or the co-workers themselves. People couldn't understand how I managed to miss calls on the cellphone I put in front of my desk (on silent/non-vibrate). Most of the time it's because I'm so focused on my work I don't notice the black screen change for 10 seconds, or it's simply because I'm in the flow and I can't afford to let it disrupt me. There was one co-worker who would only ever IM me (I don't check IMs until I'm free), and I never realized it until now, but I really appreciate that. Occasionally working at home only makes it worse. My family still doesn't really have an idea what I do for a job, and to them, interrupting someone typing stuff on a keyboard all day or asking them questions is perfectly normal. I too, seem very detached or out-of-it to people when I'm focused on my work. I've been experimenting with working only in late hours when everyone else is asleep to get an hour of two of pure focus. It's been working amazingly well, but it's definitely more commitment.
cylinder 13y ago
This comes up frequently here. Some people love open floor plans and find cubicles unbearable. Generally they're more extroverted and usually not programmers. Others, like OP, want privacy, quiet, and focus. I'm not really sure what the solution is, other than maybe "only hire cubicle lovers." You could offer both arrangements and let employees choose, but this probably isn't economically or practically feasible for most companies.
fsk 13y ago
At my job, I asked what they were paying in rent. It came to around $500 per employee per month. For $1000 per employee, they could have private offices for everyone. So, if private offices are a 5-10% productivity boost, private offices are better than an open plan office. At one former job, they switched the managers from private offices to cubicles. That really made it hard to have a decent technical discussion, squeezed in their cubicle.
Zigurd 13y ago
It depends on the open space. I have seen one setup where you have a choice of working in a project room, which you should not expect to be quiet (though it can be quiet at times), or an open plan area that is designated for quiet work. Work-at-home is also an option for most project teams in this setting. That appears to work. Mixing coders (or CAD engineers, or anyone who may need hours of uninterrupted concentration) in with people who are likely to interrupt them is asking for trouble.
stevesearer 13y ago
It makes sense why so many people have an aversion to open office plans, but the point of them is not optimization of individual productivity. Some of the stated reasons for open plans are collaboration, cost savings, sense of team, etc... Whether or not those are valid metrics which are actually improved by open plan layouts is a different question than a single employee's perception of them. When discussing private or semi-private office plans there are still some important things to consider. One that would be important to me is access to natural light which is greatly reduced by walls or cubicles. Another that would be important to employers would be the modularity of an office. Fixed walls are a huge nuisance and costly to adjust with any company growth.

Couldn't agree more about the flow thing. same reason programmer complain about meetings. although once you go back to a cube you start to feel isolated.

jayhuang 13y ago

I too, hate open floor plans. At one of my previous jobs, we had 2 developers on a team with a couple BI analysts, designers, marketing people. Truth is, I enjoyed their company. They were a pretty good group of people to be around. Only problem was the constant interruptions that would occur. Either by people who were looking for another co-worker who was not at their desk, or the co-workers themselves. People couldn't understand how I managed to miss calls on the cellphone I put in front of my desk (on silent/non-vibrate). Most of the time it's because I'm so focused on my work I don't notice the black screen change for 10 seconds, or it's simply because I'm in the flow and I can't afford to let it disrupt me. There was one co-worker who would only ever IM me (I don't check IMs until I'm free), and I never realized it until now, but I really appreciate that. Occasionally working at home only makes it worse. My family still doesn't really have an idea what I do for a job, and to them, interrupting someone typing stuff on a keyboard all day or asking them questions is perfectly normal. I too, seem very detached or out-of-it to people when I'm focused on my work. I've been experimenting with working only in late hours when everyone else is asleep to get an hour of two of pure focus. It's been working amazingly well, but it's definitely more commitment.

cylinder 13y ago

This comes up frequently here. Some people love open floor plans and find cubicles unbearable. Generally they're more extroverted and usually not programmers. Others, like OP, want privacy, quiet, and focus. I'm not really sure what the solution is, other than maybe "only hire cubicle lovers." You could offer both arrangements and let employees choose, but this probably isn't economically or practically feasible for most companies.

fsk 13y ago

At my job, I asked what they were paying in rent. It came to around $500 per employee per month. For $1000 per employee, they could have private offices for everyone. So, if private offices are a 5-10% productivity boost, private offices are better than an open plan office. At one former job, they switched the managers from private offices to cubicles. That really made it hard to have a decent technical discussion, squeezed in their cubicle.

Zigurd 13y ago

It depends on the open space. I have seen one setup where you have a choice of working in a project room, which you should not expect to be quiet (though it can be quiet at times), or an open plan area that is designated for quiet work. Work-at-home is also an option for most project teams in this setting. That appears to work. Mixing coders (or CAD engineers, or anyone who may need hours of uninterrupted concentration) in with people who are likely to interrupt them is asking for trouble.

stevesearer 13y ago

It makes sense why so many people have an aversion to open office plans, but the point of them is not optimization of individual productivity. Some of the stated reasons for open plans are collaboration, cost savings, sense of team, etc... Whether or not those are valid metrics which are actually improved by open plan layouts is a different question than a single employee's perception of them. When discussing private or semi-private office plans there are still some important things to consider. One that would be important to me is access to natural light which is greatly reduced by walls or cubicles. Another that would be important to employers would be the modularity of an office. Fixed walls are a huge nuisance and costly to adjust with any company growth.