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Strange Company rules and manipulations
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tooki:

--- Quote from: james_s on February 14, 2020, 05:13:44 am ---
--- Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on February 14, 2020, 03:02:46 am ---Some companies have recognized the need for privacy and quiet and have/had private offices for 100% of their technical staff. This includes/included Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and others.

--- End quote ---

Microsoft used to have private offices or offices shared by two people but that has been changing. Their newest buildings are all trendy open layouts and they've been remodeling some of the other spaces into that. Some employees are still lucky enough to be in the older buildings that have offices. I'm not aware of any major tech companies that still have most of their staff in private offices, the pendulum is still swinging toward open plans and management types are still touting the BS advantages.

--- End quote ---
I believe Apple still relies on private offices, since they really value secrecy, and that’s kinda hard in open offices.
David Hess:

--- Quote from: Dundarave on February 14, 2020, 04:36:38 am ---Re: Open Plan office space, over the last 20 years I’ve managed a dozen different teams of software developers, and every one of them, when given a choice of cubicles or open plan with long tables, have always wanted the open plan.  These are teams of 3 to 12 individuals.  In a couple of cases we had to repurpose largish board rooms to accommodate them all together so that the people in the cubes weren’t disturbed.

Might be a millennial thing, but for me this has been the case since before 2000!  Just a different viewpoint, I guess.  Personally, as a boomer manager, I simply can’t function without a door, and consider it a condition of my employment.
--- End quote ---

It might also explain why software and human factors engineering has becoming worse.

People have not changed so if it is a millennial thing, then it is a fad and they will find out how distractions destroy productivity.  Of course these are the same millennials who like chicklet keyboards and screens filled with glare so maybe they will not.
james_s:

--- Quote from: tooki on February 16, 2020, 12:35:38 pm ---
--- Quote from: james_s on February 14, 2020, 05:13:44 am ---
--- Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on February 14, 2020, 03:02:46 am ---Some companies have recognized the need for privacy and quiet and have/had private offices for 100% of their technical staff. This includes/included Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and others.

--- End quote ---

Microsoft used to have private offices or offices shared by two people but that has been changing. Their newest buildings are all trendy open layouts and they've been remodeling some of the other spaces into that. Some employees are still lucky enough to be in the older buildings that have offices. I'm not aware of any major tech companies that still have most of their staff in private offices, the pendulum is still swinging toward open plans and management types are still touting the BS advantages.

--- End quote ---
I believe Apple still relies on private offices, since they really value secrecy, and that’s kinda hard in open offices.

--- End quote ---

Apple recently built a huge fancy very expensive new campus. A number of teams have refused to relocate to the new place which was opened with much fanfare because its all open layout. I'll see if I can find the article about it, the place sounded very form over function which mirrors the recent product line.
tooki:
I remember seeing photos of the private offices in the new campus shortly before move-in. So it's possible that some of it is open-plan, but most definitely not all of it.
james_s:
Maybe it's the usual thing where only senior managers have offices? I've never been there.

https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/apple-employees-hate-apples-5-billion-open-plan-o.html
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