Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!bellcore!dduck!duncan From: duncan@dduck.ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Office Survey Results.................. Message-ID: <17376@bellcore.bellcore.com> Date: 10 Aug 89 11:45:09 GMT References: <10440004@hp-lsd.HP.COM> <6474@pdn.paradyne.com> <17357@bellcore.bellcore.com> <6478@pdn.paradyne.com> Sender: news@bellcore.bellcore.com Reply-To: duncan@dduck.UUCP (Scott Duncan) Lines: 55 Hi George...yes folks, George and I knew one another (over the phone and by email) when he worked at Bellcore. In article <6478@pdn.paradyne.com> reggie@dinsdale.paradyne.com (George W. Leach) writes: > > People type loud, cough and sneeze, talk constantly in a >loud tone, etc...... All sorts of machinery emit noise, eg. PC printers. An important point about my experiences: they were before PC's and locally attached printers became popular so there was no printer noise. Local cul- ture tended to reduce the amount of exposure to people standing around talk- ing much (or too loud) since people WERE sensitive to the noise level poten- tial. >>Has anyone ever worked where the offices are glass from about midway up all >>around > >Yes, I have. Typically the materials that the walls were made of were not >sound absorbant. In addition, the floors were linoleum so that if the >secretary in high heels came down the aisle you could hear her from a mile >away. We also have five button hand sets which were constantly ringing. >The terminals were the old Teletype 43 paper type. There were four or five >people to a cubical. World War II surplus furniture, etc...... My esperience at the DP shop was far better: decent walls, rugs, very little phone interruption. > Furthermore, if a technical >discussion is taking place then perhaps the people involved in the >discussion *don't* want your participation! I mean, time management >may dicatate that people not get involved in each and every technical >discussion that pops up during the course of a day. If I have a >technical question, I know who the appropriate people are to get in >touch with. I don't necessarily need all sorts of people joining in. >Too many cooks spoil the broth. Well, local culture also too care of that after a while. If you did NOT want people to pop into your conversations, you didn't stand up around other folks' cubicles! Like I said, I had very positive experiences in the open arrangements, but am very willing to believe that others have not. My only reason for posting was because I assumed there would be lots of negative reactions to open office architectrures and I knew I had positive experiences. So, for contrast, I thought it would be worthwhile to respond. >George W. Leach AT&T Paradyne >(uunet|att)!pdn!reggie Mail stop LG-133 >Phone: 1-813-530-2376 P.O. Box 2826 >FAX: 1-813-530-8224 Largo, FL USA 34649-2826 Speaking only for myself, of course, I am... Scott P. Duncan (duncan@ctt.bellcore.com OR ...!bellcore!ctt!duncan) (Bellcore, 444 Hoes Lane RRC 1H-210, Piscataway, NJ 08854) (201-699-3910 (w) 609-737-2945 (h))