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Comment by amyjess | Hacker News Reader

Cubes get a lot of hate, but I honestly prefer them over an open office. Maybe even better than a solitary office: in my experience, having my own office just felt isolating.

I've worked in a cube. I've had my own office. I've shared an office with one other person in a variety of desk arrangements. I currently share a large office with three other people (might as well be an open plan).

I'd probably rank the cube second, with sharing an office with one other person as the best (with desks arranged so both our backs are to the wall).

Open offices are terrible, terrible things. Next time I interview, I'm going to make sure to ask what their office arrangements are, so I can avoid that situation.

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I was involved in some new-office cost discussions at one point, and while I feel management likes to say open offices are about collaboration, it was really really really about furniture and space costs and employee density.

So one answer is given "up the chain" (cost/density) and another is given "down the chain" (collaboration), and that's not cool IMHO.

My feeling with open offices is that sales/marketing people like it and most developers can't concentrate. It's not an extrovert issue -- I'm pretty extroverted at times, but coding is one of those things you need to minimize distractions while doing.

>So one answer is given "up the chain" (cost/density) and another is given "down the chain" (collaboration), and that's not cool IMHO.

This kind of crap is so offensive yet so common and most managers have no idea how transparent it usually is.

I agree that open offices are, in practice, horrific endeavors.

But I think the concept behind them is valid: to foster collaboration and eschew meetings.

Given the choice between being stuck in meetings all day and an open office plan, I'd take the open office any day.

No, its not. There is a "concept" behind them to justify it in a way that doesnt just spit out "hey, we dont really value you as an employee more than we value a thumbs up from our shareholders". Solitude is necessary for creativity, open floor plans are terrible for cross-collaboration because nobody can concentrate to begin with.

The concept is bullshit though because either everyone is having to fight the distraction of someone else's collaboration or everyone stays quiet so to not distract anyone.

I think modern office layouts try to get the benefit of "sharing an office with one other person" with huddle rooms. Of course, the problem there comes when you inevitably have to relinquish the huddle room :-)

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