I remember a two decades ago when the engineering team made us implement an open office plan at a company. No one wanted walls or cubes.
Now it being rejected more and more. I feel it’s like it’s generational.
Now it being rejected more and more. I feel it’s like it’s generational.
The coders defeated it by going remote, and wearing headphones. "Headphones are the new office door." Their walls of huge monitors replaced the cube walls. ;-)
Open offices were rationalized by "collaboration," but engineering is inherently collaborative, and engineers were not consulted.
In a department that I worked in, the coders went "virtual remote" by forming a protective silo and discouraging "distraction." Although, they still had lunch with the rest of us.
The funny thing is that in a recent thread about digital nomads, pictures of people crowded together in coffee shops, sitting elbow to elbow at their laptops, sparked the reaction: "Those people can't really be working, or maybe they're not really techies."
I personally think that what the new normal looks like is still unknown, if one even emerges.
Coffee shops are, in my experience, quite a bit quieter then open offices and less distracting too.
I would honestly prefer going to a coffee shop to work then a "open office", but also I am really thankful that I don't have to do either.
1. In a coffee shop almost no-one comes to me uninvited to ask a question about my work or our product that will create a 30 minute interruption
2. The background noise in a coffee shop has not relation to the product/company I work for this it becomes much more similar with the wind or rain - our brains can really adapt and ignore it
While in open office the flow can be interrupted by a friendly face passing by and waving, by someone speaking out loud about a project related to what you are working on or by someone drawing a diagram of something you know. In a sense all these are picking your attention as they are related to your interest.
But more important is that in a coffee place 99% of time you pick your interruption: ordering something or chatting with someone while in an open office the distraction comes at random times.
!? I've been working in offices for 40 years and "a door" has always been the gold standard. For a long time it was one of the reasons to work at Microsoft.
But since around 1992 if I wanted a door I had to work at home.
Doors are super high value, especially when used properly. And that often means managing door state:
Open = available, come on in!
Closed = while others can knock, or say a quiet word to interrupt.
Open offices can be implemented in sensible ways. Some companies had gorgeous open plans with people in decently large islands still having space for themselves while being not so far from colleagues, with enough space between the islands to not hear everything the neighboring islands are doing. And then you had all other areas where you'd find a quiet corner to isolate if you really need to. I think that was the original pitch for the idea ?
But of course those were super expensive, the luxurious space became cramped as more employees join and the offices aren't getting bigger, people wanting quiet places moved to emergency stairs and archival rooms etc.
All things considered, I don't think people argue against the fundamental idea of open spaces, they just don't believe companies care enough or would resist cost cutting, making them horrible call center level hellscapes in the long run.
Aesthetically, it's way better. There was a huge emphasis in the 90s and 00s to reimagine what an office looked like, to get away from stuffy fabric, burnt coffee, and dull colors.
It turns out that y'all were right about most of that stuff, but a few things (like visual/audible distractions) were made worse.
Wearing headphones for decades all the time isn't great for your ears. Plus your ears can sweat, headphones are one more thing you need to keep track of, especially with the agile desk/flexible desk penny pinching spreading like wildfire.
There are many valid reasons to want offices.
So I have to dedicate a whole room..