I'm saying the concept of creating private working spaces was unsuccessful. IME workers tended towards tolerating distractions or wearing headphones.

> I always assumed the open spaces trend was just pablum being served up by Corporate to take us (engineering) down a notch.

I don't disagree with this though.

Agreed, it was always about reducing cost.

Not always. You have to include the fad component. Our company isn't cost constrained, nor were we hiring a ton of new talent. Yet we updated our office layout and furnishings 2x in the last 8 years to look "better."

Never underestimate the desire to keep up with the Joneses.

I definitely agree with this.

Those huge open plan offices of the 1970s looked amazing in magazine photo-shoots. If you're C-suite suit you can really preside over a room like that.

Like a newsroom bullpen seen from a balcony above, lots of noise, lots of activity.

It's a just bummer if your job is to think carefully about stuff without distraction.