Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't like private offices. It just seems like a separation between myself and the rest of the team. I actually like open seating arrangements.
When I need some serious concentration and can tolerate no distractions, a solid pair of noise-canceling headphones does the trick.
Not for me. I'm not anti-social [1], but I have very limited ability to "filter" out surrounding noise and activity.
Actually, to some extent I think I'm simply more aware of the distraction. I recall a classmate's chemistry grades improving significantly after I convinced him to turn off his stereo while he was studying.
People always wonder how I see the things that they missed. (And I get that a lot.) Unfortunately, many seem completely unwilling to accept this aspect of the possible answer.
Nonetheless, if it works for you, it works. I just wish the current, open space dominant culture would be more accepting of my explanation of what works for me.
[1] To the contrary, I seem to be the one who ends up with connections throughout an organization, although they tend to focus on those who have a bit more depth. (I'm not much for the "schmoozing" crowd and superficial conversation -- I absolutely do not care about the latest Adam Sandler movie.)
Contrary to many around me, I'll end up knowing people across divisions, and from HQ down to the plant production floor. Those of us who "get stuff done" tend to find each other, and to rely on each other when the bureaucracy is demanding the impossible.
It's a matter of preference to be sure. I've never had a totally private office. I've had high-walled cubicles, which I found tolerable with headphones, shared offices, which were likewise OK as long as your roomie wasn't too chatty, and open "bullpens" which I think are the worst.
We're moving soon into a new building where it's mostly open "bullpen" seating. They have provided a handful of "focus booths" where individuals or small groups can retire if they feel they need some isolation. We've been preached at about studies that show that "open, collaborative" spaces are the best.... by managers/administrators who are all going to have private offices! Classic "do as I say not as I do." My guess is that I won't be sticking around.
Personally I love them - we're a small company, only six of us in the office (a few others dotted around elsewhere), and private rooms are great. Most of the time we leave our doors open and can chat from the hall, or shout to each other - but even then, it's nice having a bit more personal space than if they were in the same room.
We work in publishing and marketing though, so essentially we work on different things except when two or more of us come together on a specific topic, at which point we can either sit in one person's office or go into the conference room. Maybe we would feel differently if we were all developers and therefore had a different style of working together?
What I'd like is private offices with huge doors (double doors, or rollup doors, or french door wall, or whatever), all facing common "courtyard" areas for teams, and then also having doors to utility/access/etc. hallways.
I have no idea how you'd build this cost effectively except illegally inside a huge open warehouse (2-3 story clear-span space).
For me, the sound isn't the problem. It's all the movement in the corner of my vision that distracts me. No amount of noise cancelling head phones will help that.
An office on the other hand means that no coworkers can distract me, unless it's intentional
Absolutely this. I must be one of the few who cannot stand movement in my line-of-sight, but it breaks my concentration every time. I share an office with one other person and I resort to positioning my head behind my double monitors so that he's out of my field of vision. The same goes for sound actually. I just cannot filter out extraneous signals. I'm fine with "white noise" though, more than most even. I wonder if this is a recognized condition.
When I need some serious concentration and can tolerate no distractions, a solid pair of noise-canceling headphones does the trick.