Re:The Open-Office Trap
by serve_yay on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @05:31PM
(#8696767)
I have had both and been working in software about 10 years. I don't know if I would say open offices are an unalloyed good, but I would say that people tend to focus on the negatives without honestly considering the drawbacks of the alternatives they'd prefer.
Further, the time when I did have my own office was when I got interrupted the most. My boss would come in all the time and talk to me about whatever, a lot of times not even work-related stuff. Now I work in a place where people will only ever try to interrupt you via Slack, and if you tell them you're busy they will go away. So I think there is a cultural aspect as well, if your company accepts people bothering you whenever, I don't honestly believe an office will put a stop to that.
Further, the time when I did have my own office was when I got interrupted the most. My boss would come in all the time and talk to me about whatever, a lot of times not even work-related stuff. Now I work in a place where people will only ever try to interrupt you via Slack, and if you tell them you're busy they will go away. So I think there is a cultural aspect as well, if your company accepts people bothering you whenever, I don't honestly believe an office will put a stop to that.