3 ms·

I wouldn't really mind an 'open' space if I was sitting with people who wanted a similar environment. I want... low lighting and min noise. I don't think everyo

I wouldn't really mind an 'open' space if I was sitting with people who wanted a similar environment. I want... low lighting and min noise. I don't think everyone wants that but the office should be hacked up to accommodate environments that allow people to focus. I know people who thrive in the noise, but I do not. Last job I was in a short cube right next to the breakroom so ALL DAY people walked by, talked and stared at my screen. It drove me nuts.

geebee 12y ago
Yeah, this is what Sun Micro did a long time back. At many of the drop in centers, Sun divided the office space into loud office and quiet office. The office manager clearly was empowered to kick people out of the quiet office if they were making noise, so it worked. The downside is that it does help to be able to have a private conversion, spontaneously. A UI expert pops by your office, asks a few questions, the conversation shifts over to work, you end up showing a few screens, talking about it. You can do this in an office without worrying about disrupting the people around you (my experience is that devs tend to be far more sensitive about this). So ironically, I actually think that open offices reduce the amount of communication between certain types of workers, because people who value quiet are shy about making noise (because they know how much it derails their own work). As a result, the casual conversations that lead to valuable work related conversations never happen.