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From: fad@think.COM (franklin a davis)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng,comp.software-eng,comp.edu
Subject: Re: Offices versus Cubicles (LONG)
Message-ID: <15458@think.UUCP>
Date: 25 Jan 88 15:10:21 GMT
References: <2058@pdn.UUCP> <82@sickkids.UUCP> <1330@looking.UUCP> <861@ur-tut.UUCP>
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Reply-To: fad@vidar.think.com.UUCP (franklin a davis)
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In article <861@ur-tut.UUCP> msir@tut.cc.rochester.edu (Mark Sirota) writes:
>In article <1330@looking.UUCP> brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes:
>> Finally, while I don't agree, some people think the open office is more
>> productive as it encourages team sprit, accessabilty and cooperation.
>
>I personally don't work very well in a secluded area.  I prefered two
>people in an enclosed office to a cubical with 6 foot walls, but the best
>of all possible worlds would be several workers in a fully open area,
>where they can discuss, joke, and otherwise have fun.  When you're in an
>office on your own, all you can do is work, which is only sometimes fun.
>And with separate offices, someone's gonna end up with the worst one, no
>matter how you slice it.  And then he's (she's) unhappy all alone.

I vote with you!  My productivity recently went up when I joined the
other three members of my project in a large, fairly quiet room with
lots of windows.  We can solve little problems immediately, and have
fun, two things cubes and private offices don't provide so easily.  Of
course, I'd prefer offices to cubes.

Interestingly, though, I spent last week at a customer site, and the
cube environment had one unusual feature: it was quiet!  They had
thick carpet, accoustic ceiling tiles, sound-absorbent cube panels,
and very wide aisles between blocks of cubes.  All in a huge room.  It
was incredibly quiet compared to what I'm used to -- but I found it
sterile, cold, numbing.

You can't win...:-)

--Franklin