Peopleware also suggests having open ("communal") spaces as part of the solution, I really like their approach. http://javatroopers.com/Peopleware.html#Chapter

Peopleware also suggests having open ("communal") spaces as part of the solution, I really like their approach. http://javatroopers.com/Peopleware.html#Chapter_13 http://javatroopers.com/Peopleware.html#Chapter_13 Tom de Marco quotes Cristopher Alexander, his first rule is that there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution :) but there are patterns :) Alexander identifies the need for all three of - a communal space - a semiprivate/team space ("war rooms", etc) - a private space Also: "Each team needs identifiable public and semiprivate space and each individual needs protected private space." They also say that: "enclosed offices need not be one-person offices. The two- or three- or four-person office makes a lot more sense, particularly if office groupings can be made to align with work groups. Even in open-plan offices, co-workers should be encouraged to modify the grid to put their areas together into small suites. When this is allowed, people become positively ingenious in laying out the area to serve all their needs: work space, meeting space, and social space. Since they tend to be in interaction mode together or simultaneously in flow mode, they have less noise clash with each other than they would with randomly selected neighbors." http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PeoplewareOnSharedSpaces http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PeoplewareOnSharedSpaces