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I'll play contrarian for a moment: the most productive office I've ever worked in was an open office layout. What worked for us: * Separate clusters by functio

I'll play contrarian for a moment: the most productive office I've ever worked in was an open office layout. What worked for us: * Separate clusters by function / noise level -- We didn't put sales people and developers next to one another. People who spent all day on the phone were near other people who spent all day on the phone. * Keep clusters small -- We had 4 person "pods" of desks for most of our early lifecycle. You weren't constantly interrupted by a dozen people from every direction, but you had a few people you could bounce ideas off of when you needed to. * Lots of breakout spaces -- If you need to have a conversation that lasts more than a minute or so, find a private space. It was nice to hear a snippet of a conversation and decide "I care about this topic, let's break out and discuss further" or "This is not relevant right now, I'm going to disregard." * Be respectful of flow -- If someone is deep in focus, just leave a post-it on their desk or send a message via chat. (This was a good form of one-bit communication for us.) I don't think it's impossible to create a great open office layout. People just copied the ceremony without the essence. It's no different than "Agile is broken! We have 20 minute standups 3 times a day and nothing gets done!" Maybe the reason is because you're doing it wrong.

trose 12y ago
This needs to be said more. I absolutely love being in an open office layout because it allows for easy collaboration as well as the occasional spontaneous fun interruption. People seem to get hung up on the interruptions as if they lose tons and tons of productivity. I just haven't experienced issues like that personally. I find that the interruptions are a welcome break to the monotony of staring at code for 8 hours a day. The privacy issue also needs to be addressed on a cultural level as well. My first job was open layout but I had one of those nosey managers that wants to know what you're doing every 15 minutes. I got talked to for being on Facebook during my lunch break. In order to really have a successful open office layout you need to have everyone on board and prepared to "let go" a little. Yeah people goof off during the day. We aren't robots that can sit down at 8:30 and constantly type for the next 8 to 9 hours. At my current job no one really cares if they walk up to you to ask a question and you happen to be taking a couple minutes to clear your head and look at cat gifs. I think that's the way it should be.
- fsloth 12y ago
  "occasional spontaneous fun interruptions" I would prefer to choose when to have my interruptions.
  - JackFr 12y ago
    Then it's not spontaneous. Hell, if you choose it it's not even an interruption.
    - fsloth 12y ago
      I'm probably a borderline ADD. My mind interrupts me constantly with spontaneus and needy impulses. "A factory pattern, you say? Well.. Oh, look, a squirrel!"
  - hack_edu 12y ago
    Or, at least not have to listen to the guys one pod over "spontaneously" discussing last night's sports statistics for a half hour block on the daily. Perhaps they're "doing it wrong" but they have their right to "spontaneous fun" things too. We're all adults and only have so much say, even one's manager. All it takes is one conflict and the concept eats itself alive.
- equalarrow 12y ago
  Staring at code 8 hours a day.. Maybe that's the problem. As someone who's had to run programming groups and do the programming work, I will say open floor plans are the worst idea ever. If you need/want to get into the zone on a project and actually make progress, the open floor plan will keep you from doing that as much as possible. For breaks, the last thing I would be doing is going on facebook or checking email or doing other useless crap like that. Your job sounds horrible if people can just walk up any time for any reason. And if you're spending time looking at cat gif's then I think you or your manager needs to revisit how you're spending your time. Doesn't sound like work to me. Sorry...
  - wuliwong 12y ago
arethuza 12y ago
I changed jobs fairly recently and the new office has "Busylights" on all PCs - which works brilliantly as its linked to IM/calendar/VoIP status. I can look round and see exactly whether it's OK to approach people.... http://www.busylight.com/ http://www.busylight.com/ [NB I wouldn't mind one on a hat I could wear at home!].
- normloman 12y ago
  I would just put mine on all the time so nobody bothered me.
bad_user 12y ago
Your advice is on the same level as "eat healthy" and "exercise more". It's nice, we should all do it, however for some people it never happens. And here's the problem - some people just cannot be respectful of other people's time or flow and also you can find a lot of variation between communication styles (e.g. synchronous vs asynchronous) or noise tolerance of people. For example, some people only want to work from home, whereas I cannot work from home, but on the other hand I need a very distractions free environment. I have really good and respectful colleagues and yet I find myself saying no to requests and interruptions several times per day even, actively declining attempts at synchronous communications between us, just so I could get anything done. This happens to the point of becoming nauseating, not only because "Alex, can you talk?" is distracting enough, but also because I have to say NO a lot. And I'm probably labeled as being a jerk, yet I cannot help being one, because contrary to other people, I really, really need to be left alone when focusing on something. On your experience, I'm not arguing that the open office in question wasn't productive for you or for your close peers, but have you asked the others about it?
- logfromblammo 12y ago
  I'm bothered by people who prioritize synchronous communication over asynchronous. On a recent project, I worked with someone who was remote. Every time I sent an e-mail, he picked up the telephone. Then he took a long time to get to the point, and couldn't ever seem to disengage cleanly. Open floor plans would probably work great for people like that. I prefer to not be pre-empted from my current task, and to have a written record of the things you wanted to tell me, so I can refer to it later. Face-to-face conversations are fine if I'm not already doing something else, but don't force me into one just because you're doing your "manager walk" or can't be arsed to have a specific agenda for the conversation. If I have a door, I can hang a "do not disturb" sign on it, and lo, I am not disturbed. Otherwise, it may just be closed because the compressor from the fridge in the break area bothers me. I don't mind interruptions, provided they are more important than what I am currently doing, but it seems like open plans lower the threshold for interruption. Some people see that as also lowering the threshold for collaboration. But there are ways to design a space to encourage one without also encouraging the other.
dchichkov 12y ago
Interesting. Curious, have you also had developers working on glossy Apple monitors and MacBook Pros with 8Gb of memory? edit: a clarification. It is ridiculous to put backend/Linux developers on Macs with 8Gb of memory on which it is nearly impossible to run a virtual machine. And glossy monitors are very good for designers in light-controlled rooms, not so for developers, who can see every ceilings light in theirs.
droopyEyelids 12y ago
I'd like to add something about how the quality of your employees affects the outcome of the open office arrangement. If you work with a bunch of thoughtful people, of course they are going to respect flow. And they're going to realize when their personal habits affect the people around them. Even gregarious extroverts will be quiet in a library like atmosphere, and move their conversations to a kitchen or break out room The open office allows people to split into sub teams and to work together on projects more fluidly than an arrangement where people have strong physical barriers to moving. But it's a sort of environment that comes together as the sum of its parts. Forcing an open environment into a shitty company with shitty employees will likely make it worse.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
analog31 12y ago
The measures that you mention seem like ways to mitigate the obvious effects of open offices by making them more like closed offices -- including increasing the amount of floor space per worker. >>> Maybe the reason is because you're doing it wrong. That can be said of any failed ideology.
- kyleashipley 12y ago
  That's probably true, but our goal wasn't to optimize floor space. And that's the problem with most open office layouts -- they're optimizing for the wrong thing. Open offices are not a magical panacea that makes workers happy and productive, but neither are they the reason your environment is unproductive. The way your team interacts is a bigger factor. Viewing your office layout as an ideology is part of the problem. It's not about us-versus-them. It's about identifying your team's work styles and building a space to support them as best as you can.
matthewmacleod 12y ago
I think you've nailed it. Open offices can work well, but it requires a little bit of effort and adherence to the rules. We have plenty of breakout areas for impromptu meetings, ample numbers of meeting rooms for more extended ones. There's plenty of space to cloister oneself for a while if needed. Our development team is together, and a few desks away from more customer-facing staff, which keeps noise down. Yeah, there are occasional distractions. But so long as everybody is respectful, there are benefits too. It's great for quick pairing sessions, which we do a lot; overhearing conversations and being able to chip in with relevant information is really often useful; even just being able to see who's physically in the office helps. I suspect a lot of this is going to be dependent on size and culture. So maybe there's an argument that on the whole, open-plan is not worth it. But I'm unconvinced.
kerkeslager 12y ago
The most productive office I've been at was also an open office layout, and I absolutely agree that the main reason open office layouts don't work is that people are doing it wrong. I'll just give a +1 for small pods and breakout spaces, since those were a big part of what worked for us. Here's what I would add to what you're saying: 1. Being respectful of flow has never worked for a team I was on. Instead, what we did is that at all times we had a pair (or the odd person out) whose job it was to field questions. If you needed to know something from a team, you went to the assigned person or pair. A corollary of this is that everyone on a given team was expected to be able to answer questions as a representative of the team. 2. Pair programming: I definitely am prone to distraction, but it's much easier to stay focused when you're working with someone on something. This also contributes to information sharing, which contributes to everyone on the team being able to answer questions. Many people mention that introverts have a hard time working in an open office layout. But what I haven't seen mentioned on this thread is that extroverts might have an equally hard time working in isolation. I'm an extrovert and I've definitely been in situations where isolation hurt my productivity. And I think that points to the core of the problem: your office space needs to meet the needs of your team, not some romanticized ideal of an Agile™ team. It's unlikely that any processes or procedures are going to make an open office work for an office full of introverts. If an open office doesn't work for your team, that doesn't mean open offices don't work, it just means that your team needs something different. This points back to the agile manifesto[1]: "Individuals and interactions over processes and tools." An office is just a tool. If you're still looking for a one-size-fits-all office layout, you're prioritizing that tool over the individuals who are using it. That's not agile. [1] http://agilemanifesto.org/ http://agilemanifesto.org/
sheepmullet 12y ago
What positives are you gaining that you wouldn't get from being in team based offices or private offices? Your entire post is about how you can minimise the negatives, but anyone who has been to a library before already knows you can make an open plan almost noise free.

trose 12y ago

This needs to be said more. I absolutely love being in an open office layout because it allows for easy collaboration as well as the occasional spontaneous fun interruption. People seem to get hung up on the interruptions as if they lose tons and tons of productivity. I just haven't experienced issues like that personally. I find that the interruptions are a welcome break to the monotony of staring at code for 8 hours a day. The privacy issue also needs to be addressed on a cultural level as well. My first job was open layout but I had one of those nosey managers that wants to know what you're doing every 15 minutes. I got talked to for being on Facebook during my lunch break. In order to really have a successful open office layout you need to have everyone on board and prepared to "let go" a little. Yeah people goof off during the day. We aren't robots that can sit down at 8:30 and constantly type for the next 8 to 9 hours. At my current job no one really cares if they walk up to you to ask a question and you happen to be taking a couple minutes to clear your head and look at cat gifs. I think that's the way it should be.

fsloth 12y ago
"occasional spontaneous fun interruptions" I would prefer to choose when to have my interruptions.
- JackFr 12y ago
  Then it's not spontaneous. Hell, if you choose it it's not even an interruption.
  - fsloth 12y ago
    I'm probably a borderline ADD. My mind interrupts me constantly with spontaneus and needy impulses. "A factory pattern, you say? Well.. Oh, look, a squirrel!"
- hack_edu 12y ago
  Or, at least not have to listen to the guys one pod over "spontaneously" discussing last night's sports statistics for a half hour block on the daily. Perhaps they're "doing it wrong" but they have their right to "spontaneous fun" things too. We're all adults and only have so much say, even one's manager. All it takes is one conflict and the concept eats itself alive.
equalarrow 12y ago
Staring at code 8 hours a day.. Maybe that's the problem. As someone who's had to run programming groups and do the programming work, I will say open floor plans are the worst idea ever. If you need/want to get into the zone on a project and actually make progress, the open floor plan will keep you from doing that as much as possible. For breaks, the last thing I would be doing is going on facebook or checking email or doing other useless crap like that. Your job sounds horrible if people can just walk up any time for any reason. And if you're spending time looking at cat gif's then I think you or your manager needs to revisit how you're spending your time. Doesn't sound like work to me. Sorry...
- wuliwong 12y ago

arethuza 12y ago

I changed jobs fairly recently and the new office has "Busylights" on all PCs - which works brilliantly as its linked to IM/calendar/VoIP status. I can look round and see exactly whether it's OK to approach people.... http://www.busylight.com/ http://www.busylight.com/ [NB I wouldn't mind one on a hat I could wear at home!].

normloman 12y ago
I would just put mine on all the time so nobody bothered me.

bad_user 12y ago

Your advice is on the same level as "eat healthy" and "exercise more". It's nice, we should all do it, however for some people it never happens. And here's the problem - some people just cannot be respectful of other people's time or flow and also you can find a lot of variation between communication styles (e.g. synchronous vs asynchronous) or noise tolerance of people. For example, some people only want to work from home, whereas I cannot work from home, but on the other hand I need a very distractions free environment. I have really good and respectful colleagues and yet I find myself saying no to requests and interruptions several times per day even, actively declining attempts at synchronous communications between us, just so I could get anything done. This happens to the point of becoming nauseating, not only because "Alex, can you talk?" is distracting enough, but also because I have to say NO a lot. And I'm probably labeled as being a jerk, yet I cannot help being one, because contrary to other people, I really, really need to be left alone when focusing on something. On your experience, I'm not arguing that the open office in question wasn't productive for you or for your close peers, but have you asked the others about it?

logfromblammo 12y ago
I'm bothered by people who prioritize synchronous communication over asynchronous. On a recent project, I worked with someone who was remote. Every time I sent an e-mail, he picked up the telephone. Then he took a long time to get to the point, and couldn't ever seem to disengage cleanly. Open floor plans would probably work great for people like that. I prefer to not be pre-empted from my current task, and to have a written record of the things you wanted to tell me, so I can refer to it later. Face-to-face conversations are fine if I'm not already doing something else, but don't force me into one just because you're doing your "manager walk" or can't be arsed to have a specific agenda for the conversation. If I have a door, I can hang a "do not disturb" sign on it, and lo, I am not disturbed. Otherwise, it may just be closed because the compressor from the fridge in the break area bothers me. I don't mind interruptions, provided they are more important than what I am currently doing, but it seems like open plans lower the threshold for interruption. Some people see that as also lowering the threshold for collaboration. But there are ways to design a space to encourage one without also encouraging the other.

dchichkov 12y ago

Interesting. Curious, have you also had developers working on glossy Apple monitors and MacBook Pros with 8Gb of memory? edit: a clarification. It is ridiculous to put backend/Linux developers on Macs with 8Gb of memory on which it is nearly impossible to run a virtual machine. And glossy monitors are very good for designers in light-controlled rooms, not so for developers, who can see every ceilings light in theirs.

droopyEyelids 12y ago

I'd like to add something about how the quality of your employees affects the outcome of the open office arrangement. If you work with a bunch of thoughtful people, of course they are going to respect flow. And they're going to realize when their personal habits affect the people around them. Even gregarious extroverts will be quiet in a library like atmosphere, and move their conversations to a kitchen or break out room The open office allows people to split into sub teams and to work together on projects more fluidly than an arrangement where people have strong physical barriers to moving. But it's a sort of environment that comes together as the sum of its parts. Forcing an open environment into a shitty company with shitty employees will likely make it worse.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

analog31 12y ago

The measures that you mention seem like ways to mitigate the obvious effects of open offices by making them more like closed offices -- including increasing the amount of floor space per worker. >>> Maybe the reason is because you're doing it wrong. That can be said of any failed ideology.

kyleashipley 12y ago
That's probably true, but our goal wasn't to optimize floor space. And that's the problem with most open office layouts -- they're optimizing for the wrong thing. Open offices are not a magical panacea that makes workers happy and productive, but neither are they the reason your environment is unproductive. The way your team interacts is a bigger factor. Viewing your office layout as an ideology is part of the problem. It's not about us-versus-them. It's about identifying your team's work styles and building a space to support them as best as you can.

matthewmacleod 12y ago

I think you've nailed it. Open offices can work well, but it requires a little bit of effort and adherence to the rules. We have plenty of breakout areas for impromptu meetings, ample numbers of meeting rooms for more extended ones. There's plenty of space to cloister oneself for a while if needed. Our development team is together, and a few desks away from more customer-facing staff, which keeps noise down. Yeah, there are occasional distractions. But so long as everybody is respectful, there are benefits too. It's great for quick pairing sessions, which we do a lot; overhearing conversations and being able to chip in with relevant information is really often useful; even just being able to see who's physically in the office helps. I suspect a lot of this is going to be dependent on size and culture. So maybe there's an argument that on the whole, open-plan is not worth it. But I'm unconvinced.

kerkeslager 12y ago

The most productive office I've been at was also an open office layout, and I absolutely agree that the main reason open office layouts don't work is that people are doing it wrong. I'll just give a +1 for small pods and breakout spaces, since those were a big part of what worked for us. Here's what I would add to what you're saying: 1. Being respectful of flow has never worked for a team I was on. Instead, what we did is that at all times we had a pair (or the odd person out) whose job it was to field questions. If you needed to know something from a team, you went to the assigned person or pair. A corollary of this is that everyone on a given team was expected to be able to answer questions as a representative of the team. 2. Pair programming: I definitely am prone to distraction, but it's much easier to stay focused when you're working with someone on something. This also contributes to information sharing, which contributes to everyone on the team being able to answer questions. Many people mention that introverts have a hard time working in an open office layout. But what I haven't seen mentioned on this thread is that extroverts might have an equally hard time working in isolation. I'm an extrovert and I've definitely been in situations where isolation hurt my productivity. And I think that points to the core of the problem: your office space needs to meet the needs of your team, not some romanticized ideal of an Agile™ team. It's unlikely that any processes or procedures are going to make an open office work for an office full of introverts. If an open office doesn't work for your team, that doesn't mean open offices don't work, it just means that your team needs something different. This points back to the agile manifesto[1]: "Individuals and interactions over processes and tools." An office is just a tool. If you're still looking for a one-size-fits-all office layout, you're prioritizing that tool over the individuals who are using it. That's not agile. [1] http://agilemanifesto.org/ http://agilemanifesto.org/

sheepmullet 12y ago

What positives are you gaining that you wouldn't get from being in team based offices or private offices? Your entire post is about how you can minimise the negatives, but anyone who has been to a library before already knows you can make an open plan almost noise free.