I work at a company where most people are in open areas. The key that makes this work IMHO is that the desks are trivially movable; just unplug two wires and wh

I work at a company where most people are in open areas. The key that makes this work IMHO is that the desks are trivially movable; just unplug two wires and wheel the desk elsewhere. Want to work next to Joe? Move there. Need to get away from a noisy cow-orker? Move his desk, or yours (both have happened). There is closed office space available, if you want it. Most people choose not to use it. Once you have mobility, you get to choose who you work with. You can get together in ad-hoc groups for a while, bring more people in as necessary, and leave for some other place when you need to. It sounds too simple and maybe too stupid to be as powerful as it actually is. I've also worked in open plans where you don't have a choice of where to sit. It sucked hard. I wouldn't do that again.