A bit off topic, but does anyone here prefer / not mind open office plans?
As someone who prefers open office plans to private offices / cubicles, I've always wondered if the large number of anti-open-plan articles are because that opinion is the majority, or because it is the loud minority.
This is the first job I've worked that the company had a sales team. One of my jobs is developing solutions for the sales team. Being able to overhear their interactions with customers is invaluable to understanding the types of technology solutions they need.
That being said, right now our two engineers sit in the middle of sales guy crossfire. 3 sales guys in front of me, 2 behind me, all talking in my direction. That's not ideal, and we're going to change that soon.
It's also helpful if you consider a programmer at a startup to be more than a programmer. Sure, I don't sit and code for 8 hours a day, but I'm also a product guy, marketing guy, growth guy, business dev idea guy, etc. That's what I love about startups. Sure, I get to work on cool coding work, but I also get to contribute and shape almost all the other things that I do, and I can do that better by being exposed to all sides of the business in the open plan.
Now, as we grow we plan on separating off engineering teams so they can focus, but at an early stage startup being in the heart of everything is invaluable.
I think having your own private "home" space, with access to a shared area for collaboration beats dumping everyone in an open space with the private spaces for occasional use.
I've been in both, and typically if you are getting great benefit from being in an open space that is not coming free, but at the cost of someone else's productivity. A lot of times there is still a net benefit, but one should be aware that co-workers might get really distracted when they want to "get things done".
I've had both, and in the open plan I find I have my headphones in so much that I might as well be working on my own private island. I'd rather have my own quiet office than blare music all the time, but both work well enough at driving out distraction.
Neither of these jobs have been team oriented though, I am 'the rails guy' at both, so isn't much knowledge transfer except from stuffy stakeholders in formal meetings either way. I'm sure it's different in a team environment.
As someone who prefers open office plans to private offices / cubicles, I've always wondered if the large number of anti-open-plan articles are because that opinion is the majority, or because it is the loud minority.