Re:Why open-office layouts are bad for employees, bosses, an...
by jameshart on Thursday November 21, 2013 @05:33PM
(#6778002)
" Have a fixed schedule during the day where for a certain number of hours, everyone is required to be in the open plan area."
You make it sound like solitary confinement cells around an exercise yard.
Re:Why open-office layouts are bad for employees, bosses, an...
by darkarmani on Thursday November 21, 2013 @04:39PM
(#6777699)
> The reason for making the open space mandatory is so that people actually go there.
Doesn't that tell you something? Why force people to work in a less productive way?
Re:Why open-office layouts are bad for employees, bosses, an...
by billmalarky on Sunday November 24, 2013 @06:47PM
(#6791733)
Perhaps there are greater long-term gains from some collaboration that don't seem as obvious as the immediate gains from "cranking away" in an office alone.
Re:Why open-office layouts are bad for employees, bosses, an...
by laglad on Thursday November 21, 2013 @04:33PM
(#6777660)
I think this is a great idea. I'd add that the idea of the mandatory hours in the open plan be sold rather than enforced.
A second point. There is a design challenge here too. How much open is too open? How many cubicles is too closed?
It's weird that the author notes that, but then proposes that the solution to focusing on one half of the vacillation is to just focus on the other half instead. Surely the ideal is to support both.
If I could I would run an experiment like this:
1. Have a large number of small, quiet office-like spaces. 2. Have a big open plan area. 3. Have a fixed schedule during the day where for a certain number of hours, everyone is required to be in the open plan area.
You can still hack there if you want, but you're expected to be there, and you understand that during that time you're free to interrupt and be interrupted.
The reason for making the open space mandatory is so that people actually go there. If it's optional, then it looks like people only go to the open spaces to not do "real" work. Since no one wants to be seen slacking, the open space just ends up unused.