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...

 

[jmw]

I always thought I'd hate working in an open plan or low wall cube farm environment but found it suited my herd instinct to be out in the open plains seeing who was knifing who in the back....
Seriously, I would guess the two problems are noise (there is always someone who has to shout down the phone) and interruptions.
I think you have to learn how to manage your space whether it is a closed office or open plan so that you can control the impulse behaviour of some people who if they can see you will open their mouths and ask (across several partitions) when if they couldn't see you, they'd look it up because they're too lazy to go find you.
Of course, when critical stuff comes up, take the laptop and hook up to the intranet in one of the conference rooms and close the door. Most people will take the hint (be sure to tell reception or all you'll get are tannoys pages and messengers come looking for you).

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[IRstuff]

I guess I'm the exact opposite. I've got a walled office, but inside that office is another wall I created by putting my bookcase on a desk near the door.

This allows me to have essentially a closed-door environment, without having my door closed.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[Pressed]

My first position was in an open room with five people and it took some getting used to, had to train my self to drown out the others and the experience was normal; outside a few quirks.

Other places have varying types of cubes and depending on the people around determined how good or bad the experience was, normally the more experienced/aged the crowd was, the better.

But once I got my own office with a regular door, it was really nice to close it when I wanted to. I found it very easy to concentrate there.

I visited a company in Japan, in a room with ten employees there was a twelve foot table (like a western lunch table) with employees facing each other and only laptops in-between them. They were all very quite and I thought it initially a terrible concept but it worked for them. Later I entered another room with five 30 foot tables and about 200 employees and no laptops. The tables were short and the employees were sitting on the floor, most had their heads down and focused on their work. The noise here was kinda high from coughing and sniffling. I can only imagine what it is like in countries or companies with little money.


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[Lion06]

I vote "NO". It would be too easy for your boss to see you the eng-tips forum instead of working!!

 

[QAFitz]

Are these answers/comments/suggestions coming from workers, managers or owners? As a worker you generally want privacy; as a manager you want idea sharing; as an owner you generally want the job done in the most efficient manner.
Based upon the posts, what do we have???

 

[kchayfie]

As a worker, I favour the low-wall, 4-desks-to-a-space, open-plan idea sharing style office. Its easier to get input from a co-worker and I have a better ideae of what kind of input they can offer (hey Joe, didn't you work on one of these a couple of months ago? how did you fix xyz?)

But then again, I'm blessed with the ability to tune out background noise if I'm busy and can't handle the distractions. And sometimes the job I'm doing is sooooo boring the distractions are the only reason I don't go completely insane!

 

[HgTX]

Back when I had an office, I was perfectly capable of wandering down the hall or picking up the phone and asking Joe how he fixed XYZ. The time spent getting out of my chair and poking my head through my boss's doorway was nothing compared to the time I spend now just plain unfocused.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[GregLocock]

After an interruption it can take me 1/2 hour to get back to where I was (typically I run 4-20 closely related models simultaneously). Mysteriously my phone is set not to ring, and email alerts on the small computer are switched off, most of the time. So when someone barges in and starts rabbiting on about their hot topic, that is 10% of my day gone. Bang.



Cheers

Greg Locock

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

 

[EngrTroll]

Hello All,

I've been reading this forum for some time now and decided to join and put my 2 cents worth in.

Quite frankly, both options are unproductive. I used to work in "cube" land and then an open office and found both are crap. Especially when so called managers and other incompetent higher ups have a private office. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

I finally left that company and the work environment was a contributing factor for my departure. Now I work for a consulting company and have my own office. Oh what a difference it makes.

Don't let anyone fool you, especially someone who has a private office. It's not about productivity but about control.

Troll

 

[PSE]

I have been in the cube farm environment for a long time now and miss the days when I had a private office. In our latest environment we have small enclosed private conference rooms (accommodates 2-4) but it is a pain to pack up your materials etc, just to make use of one. The only plus I have seen from an open environment is the spontaneous interaction you might get from someone chiming in on a technical discussion. This is often counterbalanced by the spontaneous social interactions that also occur.

Regards,

 

[kchayfie]

The best office I ever worked in was one where "teams" shared their own offices. So when there was half a dozen of us working on project X, we were shut in a room together and almost all the work related conversations were for project X so you didn't mind having to overhear them. And then moving on to project Y, which had a cast of thousands, we moved into a big open plan space which was a bit more distracting but you were still mostly only overhearing stuff on project Y (or what the other guy did at the weekend - nothing stops those conversations!). Unfortunately, forward planning movable walls and easily packed up desks all come into the equation in that office design...

 

[HgTX]

That can work well when you're only working on one project at a time.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[KENAT]

One project at a time, people actually get to do that;-).

You mean not everyone has to juggle multiple projects at least 2 of which are top priority!

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

 

[debodine]

And later that morning the boss stops by and says, "Here is the new top, TOP priority program. By the way, you are one month behind on it already."

)

debodine

 

[PSE]

Followed by the blank expression on their face when/if you reply:

"What current TOP priority progam would you like me to drop while I work on this?"

Regards,

 

[SomptingGuy]

Ahhh, the Escher Staircase of TOP priorites.

We had our office move. I now sit facing an internal window which acts as a partial mirror. So even though others can see what I'm doing, I can see them coming first and block my screen.

 

[aprincezk]

This kind of goes along with this topic, but a whole different animal -- i am thinking outside the box -- err cube...
Maybe it is the industry I am in (petrochem), or perhaps it is the geriatric status of people I work with, but I feel that engineering is turning away from a technically advanced profession and into an art form. I feel there is a serious lack of the use of technology in the work environment. It feels archaic and less efficient than a 1976 jaguar. I saw a report on the news about the future of Corporate America and how some businesses are eliminating base offices and allowing employees to work from home – or wherever they so choose. I am a firm believer in accountability for WHAT you get done, not WHERE you get it done so this sounds extremely reasonable. Not to mention the environmental relief of a non-commute. Are there engineering companies out there that utilize technology in this aspect? Who are they? What industries are they in? If 85% of the people I work with are at or around retirement age, are we going to be able to keep up after they retire or will engineering “as we know it” die off and a new way (GASP!) will be born? Are these folks going to stay in the work force longer – further compounding the lack of technology use? Will the engineering world be the last to convert to the new ways of Corporate America? Stubborn Engineers!

Can anyone list engineering companies that are up to speed on telecommuting?
Or perhaps I need someone to open my eyes as to why telecommuting will never work in the world of engineering and engineering will eventually become a lost art.

 

[KENAT]

I have telecomuted. Wouldn't say I had the technology to support it but I did it.

I've seen reports questioning how well telecomuting works out.

I've got to say that while I loved working in my PJs or bath robe I don't think it's a widescale solution for Engineering.

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

 

[jmw]

Ah, aprincezk, the assumption that it is cheaper to work from home is apparently not founded in reality.
A study has found that the energy consumed by a solitary worker in his home compared to his share of the energy at the workplace plus his commute is the greater.
Of course, we might also question this research, especially if it is based on tax returns and what the individual users are claiming they use rather than what they actually use extra... but none the less it is another one of those claims that sounds reasonable on the face of it but needs testing.


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[kchayfie]

There have also been reports by psychologists about how man is a social creature and telecommuting doesn't work as well because workers crave the "water-cooler" culture and the opportunity to interact with colleagues.

Obviously a generalisation about society as a whole rather than individuals in their own personal circumstances. I for one would need the interaction to aid motivation.