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From: msir@ur-tut.UUCP (Mark Sirota)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng,comp.software-eng,comp.edu
Subject: Re: Offices versus Cubicles (LONG)
Message-ID: <861@ur-tut.UUCP>
Date: 22 Jan 88 23:37:40 GMT
References: <2058@pdn.UUCP> <82@sickkids.UUCP> <1330@looking.UUCP>
Reply-To: msir@tut.cc.rochester.edu (Mark Sirota)
Organization: Univ. of Rochester Computing Center
Lines: 29

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 have worked in several office situations: Fully open, with 5 programmers
at various desks in various orientations all near windows; divided
offices, with 5 or 6 foot walls, each of us with our own phone, desk, file
cabinet, etc.; and enclosed offices, either one or two people per office,
some with windows, some without.

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.

Of course, it's very helpful to have other noise sources (such as
printers) in an enclosed room somewhere so that the area is quiet when
nobody's talking.

Perhaps I'm being a little idealistic, but I believe people work best in a
cooperative environment, and walls of any size or type only serve to
destroy cooperation.
-- 

Mark Sirota
 msir%tut.cc.rochester.edu@cs.rochester.edu (rochester!ur-tut!msir)