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Re:The Open-Office Trap by mrb on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @05:33PM (#8696783)
Well, Facebook is building the world's largest open bullpen office, with 2800 workers in 1 room(!) I wonder what they think of this research that shows open office plans being detrimental.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/05/27/article-2331658-1A...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2584738/Now-T...

Re:The Open-Office Trap by nerfhammer on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @05:50PM (#8696863)
They know about the research but usually say it's more important that "openness" is a "core value"

e.g., https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5768771

Re:The Open-Office Trap by MCRed on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @06:07PM (#8696948)
Maybe I'm being cynical but I don't believe it when people say open plans result in more "collaboration" or "openness". It just sounds like a rationalization

By far the most collaborative environments for me have been individual offices or two to an office.

In an open floorplan I find myself constantly being distracted and trying to wall people off, which makes my emotional state less open to discussion... because I'm trying to focus on work.

With an office with one or two people in it, you don't have to worry as much, can be more open because you know you will get time to focus.

The company I work for is moving from individual offices to an open floor plan. They didn't even bother to talk to programmers about it, and admitted they looked at individual office locations but didn't think it mattered when we protested.

They've also gone from a 6 person dev team to now 3. While there are many problems that caused me and the other two people to leave, them choosing an open office without consulting use and then blowing off our objections is characteristic of the disrespect they show generally.

I think that companies with open office plans don't really respect engineers. And I include google and Facebook in this assessment.

Re:The Open-Office Trap by joesmo on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @06:15PM (#8696979)
Which is a lame cover for the real reason of not wanting to spend the extra money.
Re:The Open-Office Trap by serve_yay on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @06:50PM (#8697092)
OMG, that's terrible. 2800 people in a room?!
Re:The Open-Office Trap by varelse on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @08:09PM (#8697359)
But think of the EPIC Nerf Wars this will allow!