Joel Sposky, whose Joel On Software is probably my favorite blog on software development and management, is (among other things) famously against open-plan office space. One of Joel's recent posts points to an Australian news.com article, whose opening line is this: "THE evidence is overwhelming - working in an open plan office is bad for your health."
I also want to point out, for what it's worth, that private office space is a main tenet of the now classic Peopleware.
I'm in favor of open-plan offices, and I've previously blogged about this. I'm up against some very reputable opinions. Photographs such as Joel included in his post evoke images of Taylorism, which for me is the antithesis of what modern open-plan offices should be all about. It's frustrating to see people paint open-plan offices in that way.
If my own experiences didn't tell me that an open office space is the best environment for software development, I'd agree with those that say private office space is the best. I've worked in a private office space (for seven years), and it was really good. I've also worked in a cubicle environment, and I probably don't have to convince many of you that it is the worst.
For an open-plan office to work, it has to be done right. Unfortunately, it is hard to do it right.
I'm willing to bet that most businesses that implement open-plan offices don't do it right, for many reasons, among them being that those who control the design of work spaces tend to be the same type of people who claimed cubicles were the answer. They have no idea the importance of creating a great place to work and collaborate.
All of this discussion is starting to make me think that private offices are the way to go. Private offices are a good alternative, they are easier for people to appreciate, and their benefits are harder to bastardize.
2 comments:
Having worked in both an open office area, a shared office with another developer and (currently) a private office, I definitely favor the last approach there. I think that you're definitely right that its the hardest to screw up.
Which isn't to say that it isn't possible to screw it up - I tend to think that, for my current project, our team is too spread out around the office. Ideally, the offices face some sort of common area - preferably with a table and/or whiteboard that can be used.
The put it differently - I think the goal needs to be to make developers have to think for a moment before they interrupt other developers (do I really need help on this?), but not force them to have to consider physical factors in regards to that collaboration (I don't want to have to walk all the way down the length of the office to bring another developer back here! Once I grab my co-worker, where do we go to have a quick meeting to sketch out an object design? etc).
On agile, co-located software development projects, health is an even greater concern as proximity is required more than ever. In my circumstance, dispersed teams require frequent VOIP/Skype...illness not an issue. We're moving to a new building soon, from offices back to cube farms...should be interesting.
Post a Comment