Office plan Vs. Productivity 1

[sbozy25]

Well

I don't feel much like working at the moment, so I though I would start a discussion. I have been pondering something lately, and thought perhaps some of you might have some input into this subject.

How do you feel an office plan effects your productivity as an engineer? What I am questioning in particular is an open office idea (ie. no cubicle walls) compared to a closed off land of cubes. I my self find I am most productive in an environment where I keep my privacy and do not have a direct line of sight or sound to my nearest co-worker. My first college internship company had an open office plan and I could easily look over the shoulder of the guy in front of me as could the guy behind me. Also, I found it very distracting to so easily hear their phone conversations. Then my first job out of college I was in a land of cubicles. They were 6' tall and made of sound absorbing cloth. This made it very easy to drown out the outside world and I felt more productive. Well now, I am in a smaller company where there are 3 of us, a manager, me and a co-worker. The manager has an office roughtly 20' x 15' and my co-worker and I have cubicles which are the same size as his office. They are 6' tall, but half way up they become a blurry sort of glass. I personally love it, I feel private in my work, I do not have to listen directly to conversations, but yet I can still see who is around. Well today the question was asked that since we are such a small department, do we want to remove all walls and go completely open... I strongly voiced my opinion against this idea... So I thought I would see what you all think...

 

[JMirisola]

Both have their pros and cons. The open plan allows for easier communication among coworkers. This is especially helpful if you're part of a team working on the same project. If you get stuck and need some help it's right there. You've already mentioned the cons.
As for the closed plan, I agree that it can help to promote productivity in some instances, especially where you work on projects solo. Then again, a pair of earbuds can accomplish much the same thing.
Both instances have their place in the world, it's just a matter of what sort of business you're in.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/jeffs_blog

 

[IRstuff]

We used to have those types of partitions, except for one bay in the entire company, where the partitions were only about 4 ft tall. So, I ask around, "Why are these partitions so short?" So the guy points to the other end of the bay, where, just then, the GM walks out of his office, and it turns our that he's only 5 ft tall.

Most engineers tend to be introverts, so having walls makes them more secure and comfortable.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[KENAT]

I've always had large cubes that I shared with co-workers.

Depending on the co workers it was usually great. However one bad apple...

I've found it useful in a team work kind of way up to a point.

My current 'cube' I can only see 2 interns and one permanent person. The other 3 people, although in the cube, are behind a partial barrier. I work closely with at least one of them and it's a pain not being able to see if he's there or what look he has on his face without getting up. I used to sit the other side where I could see him and I prefered it that way.

However, not having had my own cube/office I can't say for sure if I think it would be better.

I know I've been able to nip a lot of bad ideas in the bud, especially with junior staff/interns, by just over hearing conversations. That said others may find my butting in annoying so they may prefer their own cube.;-)

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[GregLocock]

I work in an open plan office with maybe 4 foot high walls between modules.

One shutdown I came back early to do a job that normally takes me 10 days. I finished it in 4. No chatter, no interruptions, and, no background noise.

The latter is very mportant to me - when I drive on twisty bits I often turn the radio off, and at home when I am working hard on something the CD player gets turned off. At work the closest I can get to that is to wear sound cancelling headphones and listen to quiet music, but that is not as good.

So, if the clever people in my organisation wish to DOUBLE my productivity they'll give me a /quiet/ office with a functional door. They won't, since an office of that quality could only be provided to a manager two full grades higher than me!

There would admittedly be downsides to that level of isolation - I wouldn't overhear the horrible discussions that badly need a dose of experience (eg 'Can we remove one of the three bolts that hold this bracket on as a cost saving ?' (on a safety critical part)).




Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[MikeHalloran]

My second favorite office was a mezzanine above the sheet stock storage for a little- used CNC punch press in the farthest corner of a little- used factory in the farthest building on the premises. No interruptions, unless I caused them. After a while, I didn't even mind the noise when they ran the punch press; it sounded like money.

My first favorite office was a tiny, odd-shaped room above a staircase in the engineering building. I smoked a pipe, more or less continuously, in there every day for ten years. When smoking became A Bad Thing, the smokers would come to my office just to smell the carpet. It too, was quiet and out of the way, and productive for me and for the company.

Right now I share an acoustically hard office with another guy who also doesn't talk much. I got the desk nearer the door opening, which serves as a good re-radiator for the loud talkers and speakerphone users down the hall. I don't care to hear most of their conversations, but there's no choice.

Yeah, there's a door, but nobody else's is closed, and the walls are thin. Speaking of which, we share one thin wall with the shop, and the traveling crane is equipped with an incredibly loud horn that sounds continuously when it traverses, and of course starts without warning. The guys who work next to the hook all day must be deaf.

I've worked in two kinds of cube farm.

I hated the modern one with high walls, carpet, and sound absorbent everywhere, because you could not fail to overhear any nearby conversation, even a whispered one, and you could not hold a conversation at normal levels without annoying everyone around you.

I didn't mind the ancient desk farms with or without short hard walls and with a tile floor, because the general hubbub drowned out the details of conversations in which you were not actually participating... and I think the net constant noise conveyed a sense of urgency, or at least made you think that you should be working because everyone else clearly was.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[KENAT]

Good point Greg, my most productive periods, in terms of specific tasks, are ofen when I come back in for a few hours in the evening. Or at my last place when I'd go in for a few hours occasionally on the weekend.

However, given the way most of my jobs have involved a lot of interacting with others, being locked away in my own office or even cube may not have worked so well.

Hmm, now you've got me thinking.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[fel3]

One of the conundrums of engineering is this: in order to do our jobs, we must [1] communicate and [2] shut up and get some work done.

I am a civil engineering project manager and have worked in an open office, cubes, and individual offices. I much prefer the latter. Sometimes I want to close the door for quiet, sometimes I need to for privacy.

The type of work matters, at least for me, with respect to the environment. For instance, I can review drawings and do calculations in a noisy room. However, when I have to read and write, I prefer either quiet or some classical music in the background. (I know virtually nothing about music, but classical doesn't distract me).

To me, though, the most distracting thing is the telephone and worse yet paging via the intercom, which is VERY loud. It's so ingrained in the culture of this office that even though many of us have requested that we stop paging, it still goes on.

Fred

 

[sbozy25]

I think the most interesting lay out I ever saw was at my uncles company. He recently built a brand new building because business had expanded past what he could accomplish. Well he allowed the engineering manager to design his department exactly how he wanted. So he sort of set it up like a slice of pie auditorium. The manager was at the top so he could ever look the entire department, then each level of engineer was quite literaly 1 step below his superior. So it was a sort of pyramid hiearchy for them to climb. Also, the department was outfited with a state of the art sound system and the back wall was painted white so the manager could run presentations from his office and have them display on the back wall for all to see. Each person's cube was only 4ft tall, but the back wall set on the floor just above you, so it actually acted like a 6ft wall on 1 side, and a 4 ft on the other. Everyone seemed to love working there...

Here is a rough sketch I did in paint, incase I did not describe it very well.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j66/sbozy25/floorplan.jpg

 

[ewh]

This post somehow ended up on the wrong thread yesterday, and has now found its way back...

I agree that there are benefits both ways. Ultimately, I think I prefer a more open environment. I'm not a nosey person by nature, but can't help interjecting when I overhear coworkers discussing a problem and I think I know a better solution, or when I'm pondering a problem and they can offer help.
In a cube farm, wrong choices seem to be followed longer before they are corrected than they would in an open room.
There is always my ipod to block distractions when needed.

 

[SomptingGuy]

Our bean counters and other overhead departments have finally realised that the view from our office is better than the view from theirs, so we have to move. Our boss fought for the best relocation possible, so we are displacing another department who have been shifted into some old buildings. Progress...

Anyway, this means I will have a corner slot from next week where I can either stare at one wall or another. Great! I'm threatening to hang some "specialist" calendars.

 

[YoungTurk]

I work in a pseudo bullpen, sharing an office with two other stress engineers, partially divided so we have to push back from our desks to see one another. This is good when it comes to making sure we all take a uniform approach to the variety of issues we deal with, but does indeed cause many interruptions and the associated loss of productivity. You can always tell when one of us has a deadline looming because the amount of cross chatter cuts to near zero.

Being a young engineer, this can also be beneficial however. I can eavesdrop on interesting issues and observe the way my cohorts deal with them (for better or worse).

One thing I don't like is that the company now forbids headphones, ostensibly for safety reasons (damn consultants). Now we each have a boombox and the background noise can get a bit extreme even with volume levels low; there is also no way to block out the music if you want quiet or can't stand the likes of Bob and Tom.

Here's a related article I found via lifehacker, "How proximity kills productiviy".

 

[zdas04]

I've had offices, big offices (with an integral conference table), cubes, and shared an office. By far the best work environment was when two of us who managed different facets of the same project shared a really big room with a conference table. We were each implicitly invited to all discussions on the project and felt welcome to participate or continue to work with a meeting going on in the background. It really worked well until I got a new boss who decided that it was beneath my station to share a room (especially with a non-engineer) and moved me to an office two hallways away from my colleague. The project got done, but the last part was a lot harder than the first part.

David

 

[sms]

I had a private office for 7 years, changed companies and was put in cubeville, and hated it, so I worked from or from field locations as much as possible, and recently was moved to a lovely private office with a big window with a park outside. I spend much more time in the office now, which makes my boss happy... and makes me happy as well...

"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?" Oddball, "Kelly's Heros" 1970

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.

 

[Heckler]

As an engineer I find the "open office environment" counter productive. I've turned down jobs that have an "open office environment"....it's way to distracting.

My current situation is 6' cubicle walls...I just wish I could put a lid on it and a cardboard door. We have a drafter that has hygiene problems....and those walls help with blocking the office air flow. Then their is the design lead whos voice can be heard halfway around the world.

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SWx 2007 SP 4.0 & Pro/E 2001
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

"Avoid the base hypocrisy of condemning in one man what you pass over in silence when committed by another." -- Theodore Roosevelt

 

[HgTX]

I used to share an office with one person. Then we got moved into cubeland (partitions about 5'4" high if I had to guess), and my productivity ever since has been a fraction of what it used to be. I can't just "get into the zone" and focus intently on what I'm doing, and since everything in this wing can be heard by everyone else, I keep hearing things that I'm interested in and feel the need to go over there & see what's up.

And I hate wearing headphones.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[NickE]

I'm the lab guy, to really get things done at my desk (not in the lab) I come in at night or on weekends. (why being singe rocks, and having an "understanding" with my boss about me and fixed hours.....

No one else 'round these parts can handle the lab, 70F +/-4F <50% humidity, year round. They say its too cold, thats where I go to hide.

 

[macmet]

I work in an open office concept and like it for reasons already listed above. The only thing I do not like about it is when a know-it-all overhears something and gets involved. If I want their opinion I will ask for it.

Overall I definitely prefer the open concept I was even offered a switch to an office and declinded it.

 

[KENAT]

70F, sounds heavenly compared to the oven I'm in, can I join you?

macmet I'm probably that person butting in so appologies, but especially with some of the wacky ideas that come up around here I find it hard not to.

I definitely think my old 4 to a cube place was more productive than where I am now (7 in a large 'cube'). And like I said when I was working on a specific task 100% having less distractions was better but in my current situation where I have to help mentor/supervise some junior staff it's useful to be able to hear what's going on, although it does limit my direct productivity.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[debodine]

I am the Project Engineer for a six person engineering team. We have the short (48" high) cubicle walls, and an open working area. Due to the fact that I lead the team, I get a cubicble desk that is a full 24" wider than the other members, and I am separated from the team cubicles by an open walkway.

I really liked it when we moved into this area, because I could turn my chair around and see the team and get the attention of anyone I needed. Now they all wear headphones. I wonder why? )

In any case, I would have a LOT less interruptions and no background noise if I had a private office, I admit. However, keeping the project on track by resolving the roadblocks is one of my primary responsibilities, so in reality it is probably a good thing that it is easy to interrupt me.

All of my team can instantly determine if I have a visitor in my cube, and if I don't, the invitation is wide open. I believe I would harm productivity if I were more separated from the team.

Our manager is down the hall, around the corner, with a private office which is definitely needed for his responsibilities. And he has to make a specific effort to leave his office and come back here to bother (oops, I meant counsel, motivate and direct) us!

debodine