
Goodbye to the office - duck
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/06/goodbye-to-the-office.html
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JustinSeriously

        "I think in ten years the TV show 'the Office' will be seen as a quaint antique."
    

I think Godin is underestimating how entrenched the idea of an office is in
our business culture, even for tech companies. But I would love for his
prediction to come true.

~~~
patrickk
Yeah just look large enterprises, particularly banks with creaking legacy
systems from the 1960s that use COBOL that just refuse to die. The last 20
years might as well not have happened from a backend perspective.

~~~
vamsee
I think that would be under-estimating the power of economics. COBOL still
lives because it is more economical to keep them running than upgrading them,
and tackling the resulting headaches. Companies would love to reduce their
costs, and offices are a very big expense. The only issue I find is whether
people really like working alone. After a few years of freelancing and working
alone, I can say that I don't. Perhaps some kind of pairing would work, as and
when required.

~~~
shoover
Godin nodded in that direction with item 5 about energy, but as you're
pointing out there is a social aspect to the work itself that goes beyond
general energy. I've worked alone for about a year and found that I get enough
social energy from lunch and evening interactions. That's great, but there's
something about the best spontaneous whiteboard sessions that you can't
recreate alone or with a scheduled meeting.

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jcnnghm
The vast majority of people aren't capable of managing their time effectively.
If people do abandon the office, expect to see a shift toward pay-for-
performance compensation models.

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dazzawazza
I hear this so often but is there any evidence for it? I just don't think it's
true.

If it is true then these are skills that can be learned, there is nothing
magic about managing time.

Peoples lives would on the whole be infinitely better. I haven't worked in an
office for 4 years and my life is better, my families life is better, my work
is better, my home is better, my environmental impact is much lower.

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humblepatience
It's funny, because a lot of people, esp in the Agile community emphasize the
necessities of having people work together not only in an office, but in a
wide open space.

Personally I find it rather frustrating as the noise sucks and sometimes I'm
not going to get any work done whether I'm in an office or not and offices are
generally lame to just hang out in and recharge until your ready to start the
horses again.

