Comments on: Tip of the day: Ditch your office cubicles http://gigaom.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/ Trusted Insights and Conversations on the Next Wave of Technology Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:26:30 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: What’s the Ideal Office Environment? » StandoutJobs.com http://gigaom.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874236 What’s the Ideal Office Environment? » StandoutJobs.com Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:49:37 +0000 http://foundread.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874236 <p>[...] seems, more and more companies are pursuing an open office environment versus a cubicle approach. For startups, the open office is almost a standard, but for larger companies that’s [...]</p> [...] seems, more and more companies are pursuing an open office environment versus a cubicle approach. For startups, the open office is almost a standard, but for larger companies that’s [...]

]]> By: Geekularity » Magnolia Bookmarks http://gigaom.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874234 Geekularity » Magnolia Bookmarks Wed, 17 Oct 2007 07:01:10 +0000 http://foundread.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874234 <p>[...] Tip of the day: Ditch your office cubicles « FoundRead [...]</p> [...] Tip of the day: Ditch your office cubicles « FoundRead [...]

]]> By: Siddharta http://gigaom.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874232 Siddharta Wed, 17 Oct 2007 06:24:19 +0000 http://foundread.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874232 <p>As far as programming is concerned, see how your team works. Some teams are more collaborative where open plans are good and some are more individual oriented where a private office is good.</p> <p>The important thing is that cubicles are bad for both. Neither do you get privacy, nor are you able to collaborate.</p> <p>An interesting setup is the 'caves and commons' setup where you have one area for collaboration (commons) and one area for private work (caves).</p> <p>One thing with open plan is to separate out functions based on noise. For example, put noise generators like printers, sales dept etc in a different area from programming.</p> <p>I recently gave a presentation on this topic at DCamp in Bangalore. I've put the notes here - http://www.silverstripesoftware.com/blog/archives/69</p> As far as programming is concerned, see how your team works. Some teams are more collaborative where open plans are good and some are more individual oriented where a private office is good.

The important thing is that cubicles are bad for both. Neither do you get privacy, nor are you able to collaborate.

An interesting setup is the ‘caves and commons’ setup where you have one area for collaboration (commons) and one area for private work (caves).

One thing with open plan is to separate out functions based on noise. For example, put noise generators like printers, sales dept etc in a different area from programming.

I recently gave a presentation on this topic at DCamp in Bangalore. I’ve put the notes here – http://www.silverstripesoftware.com/blog/archives/69

]]> By: Mike http://gigaom.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874226 Mike Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:50:16 +0000 http://foundread.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874226 <p>In 1979, at A-dec in the rural suburb of Newberg, outside of Portland, Oregon, I worked for five years in an open plan office with the 15 or so other members of the marketing department. This was a plan that worked great for marketing and the noise was much lower than the 10 years I spent working in cubes at Intel (Hillsboro, OR) from 1996-2006.</p> <p>Seems the cycle has come full circle on this trend.</p> In 1979, at A-dec in the rural suburb of Newberg, outside of Portland, Oregon, I worked for five years in an open plan office with the 15 or so other members of the marketing department. This was a plan that worked great for marketing and the noise was much lower than the 10 years I spent working in cubes at Intel (Hillsboro, OR) from 1996-2006.

Seems the cycle has come full circle on this trend.

]]> By: Anand http://gigaom.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874227 Anand Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:34:53 +0000 http://foundread.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874227 <p>That is dumb. Totally dumb. If anything, as a programmer, I need individual offices. Maybe this will work for big companies where people aren't doing any creative work most of the times [I work for a big company], but in a startup setting [my startup was acquired by a big company] you HAVE to zone out and work.</p> <p>You really have to focus on your work and not be distracted. Good work happens when the developer can zone out and hold the code in his head. Ask Paul Graham or DHH [37 signals]. DHH doesn't even come to work on most days. 37 signals has this rule where for half the day no one disturbs anyone else, and it is a 10 person company.</p> <p>In a big company like HP or Intel, there would be no creative work done in such a setting.</p> That is dumb. Totally dumb. If anything, as a programmer, I need individual offices. Maybe this will work for big companies where people aren’t doing any creative work most of the times [I work for a big company], but in a startup setting [my startup was acquired by a big company] you HAVE to zone out and work.

You really have to focus on your work and not be distracted. Good work happens when the developer can zone out and hold the code in his head. Ask Paul Graham or DHH [37 signals]. DHH doesn’t even come to work on most days. 37 signals has this rule where for half the day no one disturbs anyone else, and it is a 10 person company.

In a big company like HP or Intel, there would be no creative work done in such a setting.

]]> By: co-working shared workspace wausau citizendesk citizen desk citizendesk.com » Silicon Valley Is Rethinking The Cubicle Office http://gigaom.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874228 co-working shared workspace wausau citizendesk citizen desk citizendesk.com » Silicon Valley Is Rethinking The Cubicle Office Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:11:28 +0000 http://foundread.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874228 <p>[...] Why? Well… as Don reports, through testing these new, more community-friendly work environments, old school managers have finally come to accept that “Dilbert-style cubicles have many shortcomings.”   READ ON >> [...]</p> [...] Why? Well… as Don reports, through testing these new, more community-friendly work environments, old school managers have finally come to accept that “Dilbert-style cubicles have many shortcomings.”   READ ON >> [...]

]]> By: snowlobster http://gigaom.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874235 snowlobster Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:39:59 +0000 http://foundread.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874235 <p>Oh, if only! To even be away from printers, fax machines, and the constant whir of the fan that cools my cube would be an excellent start. I wonder what the girl in front of me would do when she couldn't whisper all day on the phone while she thinks nobody can hear her. haha</p> <p>As it is now, a co-worker that sits 2 cubes up from me communicate back and forth via Google Chat. How ridiculous!</p> <p>I came here from my Global Dashboard. Congratulations on your successful blog!</p> Oh, if only! To even be away from printers, fax machines, and the constant whir of the fan that cools my cube would be an excellent start. I wonder what the girl in front of me would do when she couldn’t whisper all day on the phone while she thinks nobody can hear her. haha

As it is now, a co-worker that sits 2 cubes up from me communicate back and forth via Google Chat. How ridiculous!

I came here from my Global Dashboard. Congratulations on your successful blog!

]]> By: foljs http://gigaom.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874233 foljs Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:27:40 +0000 http://foundread.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874233 <p><b>Cubicles can prompt odd behavior… It is hard to see if colleagues are busy, so some cube-dwellers will send emails to a neighbor about a simple question that could have been answered more easily in a conversation.</b></p> <p>That's a GOOD THING.</p> <p>A colleague coming around to ask a "simple question" will destroy hard to built concentration, and pop one out of "the zone".</p> <p>The same question in an email can be answered when <em>I</em> have time to answer it.</p> <p>I guess if your job is about <em>brainstorming</em> all the time, this is fine. But for programming and hard sciences even cubicles are not enough isolation. Separate offices are way better.</p> Cubicles can prompt odd behavior… It is hard to see if colleagues are busy, so some cube-dwellers will send emails to a neighbor about a simple question that could have been answered more easily in a conversation.

That’s a GOOD THING.

A colleague coming around to ask a “simple question” will destroy hard to built concentration, and pop one out of “the zone”.

The same question in an email can be answered when I have time to answer it.

I guess if your job is about brainstorming all the time, this is fine. But for programming and hard sciences even cubicles are not enough isolation. Separate offices are way better.

]]> By: park3 http://gigaom.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874231 park3 Mon, 15 Oct 2007 19:20:47 +0000 http://foundread.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874231 <p>It can be tricky, though. I used to work in a room with 4 desks. It worked great for 3 of us, but the fourth (not me) almost went crazy daily listening to the others chit-chat. OTOH, the big office I worked in where everyone had their own rooms was an interpersonal disaster- no one ever talked live.</p> <p>Personal space definitely varies by person. There's no way to get it right for everyone all the time.</p> It can be tricky, though. I used to work in a room with 4 desks. It worked great for 3 of us, but the fourth (not me) almost went crazy daily listening to the others chit-chat. OTOH, the big office I worked in where everyone had their own rooms was an interpersonal disaster- no one ever talked live.

Personal space definitely varies by person. There’s no way to get it right for everyone all the time.

]]> By: sanmat http://gigaom.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874230 sanmat Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:46:11 +0000 http://foundread.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874230 <p>The above read innovation is already started for the last two years and the results are favorable to this time.But it has nothing to do with web2.0.</p> The above read innovation is already started for the last two years and the results are favorable to this time.But it has nothing to do with web2.0.

]]> By: urban bohemian http://gigaom.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874229 urban bohemian Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:59:07 +0000 http://foundread.com/2007/10/15/tip-of-the-day-ditch-your-office-cubicles/#comment-874229 <p>As someone that has gone from cubes to a slightly more open-seating plan, I can say that if we'd come to this plan from the outset it would be great. However taking employees used to being in cubes and then removing the walls, as it were, has not alleviated many of the noise and odd behavior problems. In fact people have continued to act as if they do have walls, many hanging memos, calendars, etc. in an effort to regain their obstructed views.</p> <p>Unfortunately, since we are working in a contractor/client environment, the employees in these new spaces had no say in their layout or design so in effect it feels as if the only kind of "office" we had was taken from us. So I'd advise companies thinking of this to at least gauge the reaction of their employees before making such a drastic change. My co-workers and I have been sharing it for about 6 months and if you took a poll, people would still say that they hate it and miss their cubes. :-)</p> As someone that has gone from cubes to a slightly more open-seating plan, I can say that if we’d come to this plan from the outset it would be great. However taking employees used to being in cubes and then removing the walls, as it were, has not alleviated many of the noise and odd behavior problems. In fact people have continued to act as if they do have walls, many hanging memos, calendars, etc. in an effort to regain their obstructed views.

Unfortunately, since we are working in a contractor/client environment, the employees in these new spaces had no say in their layout or design so in effect it feels as if the only kind of “office” we had was taken from us. So I’d advise companies thinking of this to at least gauge the reaction of their employees before making such a drastic change. My co-workers and I have been sharing it for about 6 months and if you took a poll, people would still say that they hate it and miss their cubes. :-)

]]>