
Beyond hot desk communism - swombat
http://www.woobius.com/scribbles/posts/0010-beyond-hot-desk-communism.html
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callahad
Do any workplaces model themselves after university campuses? In essence,
creating a wide variety of spaces to accommodate myriad working styles.

Lower floors of a library for solitude, campus coffee shops for more social or
creative tasks. A myriad of rooms and open spaces for ad hoc collaboration.
Outdoor areas with tables and benches. Lounges. Departmental enclaves with
desks and storage when you need a more persistent environment.

It feels like my productivity plummeted once I graduated and landed in a
cubicle.

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Xichekolas
I blogged about this once in more detail (like you care), but I think
workplaces would benefit greatly if they had zones that were analogous to
those found in houses.

    
    
      House                   Office
      Bedroom/office/study    Private Office
      Dining Room             Small team collaboration spaces
      Living Room             Common lounge
      Backyard/family room    Whole company meeting room/auditorium
    

People stay in their bedroom/study when they want privacy and the ability to
concentrate. They hang out in living rooms and dining rooms when they want to
see other people. When you have all your friends over, you most likely spend
your time in the kitchen/family room/backyard. I don't see why your workplace
should only have semi-private personal zones (bedrooms) or a single huge room
(family room). No family would like a house with only bedrooms or only a
family room, so why should employees like a workplace with only one type of
room?

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mhb
Sounds like Joel's description of the Fog Creek office space.

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diN0bot
i found it suuuuper hard to concentrate when i worked in an 'open cube'
layout. i can only imagine that losing more space becomes stressful, like
trying to find routine and focus while working out of coffee shops. it's
surprisingly difficult!

the past few months i've been working from home with my husband on a joint
venture. we both appreciate the flexibility of interaction levels, from
working in separate rooms to putting our heads together.

i think i'm not alone in this need for concentration and chill, while still
appreciating the benefits of neighbor nudging.

the whole interaction thing is of course much easier with just two people, but
i think having flexibility of space and schedule is what makes us successful.
and respect. nothing like working with your significant other to truly learn
communication skills.

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vegai
You should rethink everything if you cannot provide those people personal
offices who absolutely must be at the office every day.

One thing you're probably doing wrong then is thinking that everyone should be
physically there every day.

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noonespecial
That's one thing I'm hoping to get out of this recession. The archaic notion
that everyone must commute large distances, at great expense to themselves
only to cram like fish in a can into a small expensive space called an
"office" should get a rethink.

The central office should, hopefully, stop being the defacto standard for all
employees and instead be used carefully for those who need the collaborative
environment most, when they need it most. It should be set up explicitly to
serve this purpose. At a certain population/productivity density, everyone
going to the office every day might be economically unsustainable.

Unfortunately, the places I've worked have taught me that some older folks are
going to need to retire before we can get past the notion that any time spent
not physically at the office is _vacation_.

~~~
gstar
The trouble is, if you're unmotivated and your results aren't visible, time
spent out of the office usually is vacation.

~~~
swombat
The solution to that is to not hire unmotivated, invisible workers, I'd
say....

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gstar
Thoroughly agree!

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lionhearted
That's an interesting piece and it's made me think a bit. One potential
drawback: People historically never respect shared space as much as they do
personal space. Regardless of the general maturity level, damage/uncleanliness
of shared space is always going to be higher than in dedicated personal space.
Part of this is because just one or two messy people will gradually mess the
whole area, instead of being contained to their own area.

But being more flexible on office setup, and minimizing empty desks when costs
are tough - really fascinating stuff. I'm going to roll this around in my mind
more a bit later.

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cool-RR
This article presents a new idea for optimizing dense work environments. A
person might find this idea interesting if his business is managing low-
productivity workers. In my opinion, the money saved by this scheme will be
negligible for employees who create even a modest amount of wealth.

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ajkirwin
I still think that proper, individual desks are better.

~~~
gaius
It's easy to quantify, or should be. When a developer comes in in the morning,
he or she has to recreate in their own mind the state that existed there when
they left the previous evening before they can continue working. Does being
able to leave books/notes/printouts open on the desk and windows open on the
desktop make this process faster or slower? How much cash is an extra hour
spent getting ready instead of doing actual work in the morning worth to the
company?

~~~
swombat
I totally agree... and so does the article.

Hot desking doesn't work for software engineering any more than it works for
architecture. The article proposes an alternative to that, which is personal
desk space on a "continuous" desk so that your space expands and contracts as
your needs do.

