

I Hate Open Floorplans - Mister_Snuggles
http://richardboydsmith.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/i-hate-open-floorplans-it-makes-roger-come-out/

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jayhuang
I too, hate open floor plans. At one of my previous jobs, we had 2 developers
on a team with a couple BI analysts, designers, marketing people. Truth is, I
enjoyed their company. They were a pretty good group of people to be around.

Only problem was the constant interruptions that would occur. Either by people
who were looking for another co-worker who was not at their desk, or the co-
workers themselves.

People couldn't understand how I managed to miss calls on the cellphone I put
in front of my desk (on silent/non-vibrate). Most of the time it's because I'm
so focused on my work I don't notice the black screen change for 10 seconds,
or it's simply because I'm in the flow and I can't afford to let it disrupt
me. There was one co-worker who would only ever IM me (I don't check IMs until
I'm free), and I never realized it until now, but I really appreciate that.

Occasionally working at home only makes it worse. My family still doesn't
really have an idea what I do for a job, and to them, interrupting someone
typing stuff on a keyboard all day or asking them questions is perfectly
normal. I too, seem very detached or out-of-it to people when I'm focused on
my work. I've been experimenting with working only in late hours when everyone
else is asleep to get an hour of two of pure focus. It's been working
amazingly well, but it's definitely more commitment.

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stevesearer
It makes sense why so many people have an aversion to open office plans, but
the point of them is not optimization of individual productivity.

Some of the stated reasons for open plans are collaboration, cost savings,
sense of team, etc... Whether or not those are valid metrics which are
actually improved by open plan layouts is a different question than a single
employee's perception of them.

When discussing private or semi-private office plans there are still some
important things to consider.

One that would be important to me is access to natural light which is greatly
reduced by walls or cubicles. Another that would be important to employers
would be the modularity of an office. Fixed walls are a huge nuisance and
costly to adjust with any company growth.

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cylinder
This comes up frequently here. Some people love open floor plans and find
cubicles unbearable. Generally they're more extroverted and usually not
programmers. Others, like OP, want privacy, quiet, and focus.

I'm not really sure what the solution is, other than maybe "only hire cubicle
lovers." You could offer both arrangements and let employees choose, but this
probably isn't economically or practically feasible for most companies.

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fsk
At my job, I asked what they were paying in rent. It came to around $500 per
employee per month. For $1000 per employee, they could have private offices
for everyone. So, if private offices are a 5-10% productivity boost, private
offices are better than an open plan office.

At one former job, they switched the managers from private offices to
cubicles. That really made it hard to have a decent technical discussion,
squeezed in their cubicle.

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sharemywin
Couldn't agree more about the flow thing. same reason programmer complain
about meetings. although once you go back to a cube you start to feel
isolated.

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Zigurd
It depends on the open space. I have seen one setup where you have a choice of
working in a project room, which you should not expect to be quiet (though it
can be quiet at times), or an open plan area that is designated for quiet
work. Work-at-home is also an option for most project teams in this setting.
That appears to work.

Mixing coders (or CAD engineers, or anyone who may need hours of uninterrupted
concentration) in with people who are likely to interrupt them is asking for
trouble.

