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One factor of open offices that is seldom counted, but remains very important, is "fitting the organization to an image". If you're bringing bankers or investor

One factor of open offices that is seldom counted, but remains very important, is "fitting the organization to an image". If you're bringing bankers or investors or other external parties through, what is more "impressive": A floor full of hard working bees, a buzz of energy filling the air, whiteboards full of complex diagrams (that probably haven't been erased in months if not years) and quirky and crazy "personalizations" on all of the desks, or walking down a hall of quiet closed doors. Or, worse still (and the #1 reason why many companies don't allow remote work), no office really at all because everyone is everywhere. That "show off the empire" thing is absolutely a function of decisions. I was recently part of such a decision process where a group was looking to become startup-y, and cargo culting the media image of what such organizations look like reigned supreme.

nazka 11y ago
It seems to be common to do that... A friend of mine who was at a unicorn company in SF before it was a unicorn, had nice tables, furniture, and overpowered computers everywhere around the pathway from the entrance to the conference room. So when VCs and business angels came it looked very nice but everybody out of the pathway had nothing like that.
- pjc50 11y ago
  Potemkin office! I'd never really considered the office as a form of stage set for the performance of the appearance of work before.
  - nazka 11y ago
    Ya I know... Like people in the front were able to have a budget of ~2000 dollars per person (hello Thunderbolt Displays!) but for others it was not even more than 300 dollars.
- Too 11y ago
  It's not only for VCs, it's also for attracting new hires.
49531 11y ago
Having, in the past, worked in a mandatory open office, and currently being on a remote team, this is right on target. The decision to have your employees work in an open office plan is not a decision of productivity.
rrss1122 11y ago
If I'm bringing bankers or investors, I think the most important factor will still be, "show me the money". For example, why have an office full of workers when you can outsource most of your work and save a ton? I've seen a lot of articles arguing against the productivity losses of an open office. Unfortunately I can't remember seeing solid numbers on whether or not those productivity losses (or possibly gains) translate to more or less profit.
sheziftron 11y ago
The factor you mentioned is indeed seldom counted, but it implies that such decisions about having closed rooms/ cubicles or open spaces are strongly related to the company evolution stage. This factor is much more substantial for small seeds or young start-up companies. This show-off sometimes tells a nice story, just like a nice demo, but for the long run you might need more than a good story. In that sense the "long run" sometimes forces you to treat your work environment to be more solid, or to support more consistent operations, and from my experience productive operations do sometimes require at least a cubicle.

nazka 11y ago

It seems to be common to do that... A friend of mine who was at a unicorn company in SF before it was a unicorn, had nice tables, furniture, and overpowered computers everywhere around the pathway from the entrance to the conference room. So when VCs and business angels came it looked very nice but everybody out of the pathway had nothing like that.

pjc50 11y ago
Potemkin office! I'd never really considered the office as a form of stage set for the performance of the appearance of work before.
- nazka 11y ago
  Ya I know... Like people in the front were able to have a budget of ~2000 dollars per person (hello Thunderbolt Displays!) but for others it was not even more than 300 dollars.
Too 11y ago
It's not only for VCs, it's also for attracting new hires.

49531 11y ago

Having, in the past, worked in a mandatory open office, and currently being on a remote team, this is right on target. The decision to have your employees work in an open office plan is not a decision of productivity.

rrss1122 11y ago

If I'm bringing bankers or investors, I think the most important factor will still be, "show me the money". For example, why have an office full of workers when you can outsource most of your work and save a ton? I've seen a lot of articles arguing against the productivity losses of an open office. Unfortunately I can't remember seeing solid numbers on whether or not those productivity losses (or possibly gains) translate to more or less profit.

sheziftron 11y ago

The factor you mentioned is indeed seldom counted, but it implies that such decisions about having closed rooms/ cubicles or open spaces are strongly related to the company evolution stage. This factor is much more substantial for small seeds or young start-up companies. This show-off sometimes tells a nice story, just like a nice demo, but for the long run you might need more than a good story. In that sense the "long run" sometimes forces you to treat your work environment to be more solid, or to support more consistent operations, and from my experience productive operations do sometimes require at least a cubicle.