Open Concept Offices 4

[tz101]

Does anyone actually like working in an open office environment? Every place I have worked at that has an open engineering office is usually a daily mosh pit of noise and commotion and it is difficult to even hear, much less think. in my opinion, more engineering mistakes happen in open offices due to distractions and noise.

 

[IRstuff]

This seems timely:

https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/...n-offices-are-absolute-dumbest-idea-ever.html

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

 

[Agent666]

Why not go to the source of your problems, that coworker, you know the one, place soundproof bag over coworkers head, cinch tight at neck for maximum sound dampening effectiveness.....

 

[bridgebuster]

We moved into an open office in 2017, nothing new to me. When I started working in the 70's it was the John Baker thing until the late 90's . Then cubicles and offices. The company hypes how the open office increases collaboration and productivity, and all that BS. Truth be told they have 4x the staff in 1/2 the space. I don't see any change in productivity or collaboration. The people who used to hide in their cubicles texting and goofing off do it in the open.

The new place is OK, nothing fantastic, at least the paint and carpets are still clean; the guy who sits across from me is annoying - loud on the phone (I know more than I want to about his life), sneezes and burps loudly - but he's not the only one; that's life.

The one interesting thing about the new place, the idiot architects (in-house staff) didn't make the rest rooms handicapped accessible. Fortunately, we don't have any wheelchair bound people, yet.

 

[SandCounter]

I switched jobs 5 years ago and didn't even think to ask what the office situation was like. Where I had worked before, they had a lot of respect for the engineers and each had an office larger then what the directors have at the new place. It was a BIG adjustment. I couldn't get anything done. There was one, rather large guy, who would cut through my cubical several times a day and bump my chair as he went by. I even put boxes in front of one of the entrances so he would be discouraged from using that route and he still would squeeze through. I can say one thing though, in an open office environment, you know what is going on. If you hear someone about to make a technical mistake, you can butt in and head it off a lot quicker before it becomes your problem.

I used to count sand. Now I don't count at all.