Open Concept Offices
Open Concept Offices
(OP)
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.
RE: Open Concept Offices
I suspect you can find sources to support either side of the argument, here's one
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/07/18...
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Open Concept Offices
Here's a shot showing some of the department head's offices and an idea of how drawing boards were arranged (that's one of my co-workers, Erwin. He was a WWII vet, served as an officer in the Wehrmacht).
August 1970 (Minolta SRT-101)
As for how it worked . . . it worked just fine. Of course, that was how virtually ALL engineering offices were like back then.
But back to your original point, I've worked in so-called 'open offices' (and I mean the newer types) and I agree, it's pretty bad unless the cube walls are at least five feet high. Where they have the low, three foot high cube walls, those environments are totally worthless, period!
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Open Concept Offices
BUT.
Any conversations louder than quiet discussion were greeted with a barrage of SSSSHHH from everybody else. Certainly no nonsense with speaker phones.
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Open Concept Offices
RE: Open Concept Offices
RE: Open Concept Offices
RE: Open Concept Offices
RE: Open Concept Offices
We had one architect, one civil engineer and eight to ten structural engineers. Boss was a Structural Engineer in an office with windows to “supervise” us. You primarily worked with the drafter right in front of you. As the project schedule required you would have junior engineers and other drafters when needed. The electrical and mechanical departments were laid out in a similar fashion.
There were some noise issues, but most of us respected those concerns. What did happen very often, especially when you were totally focused on your project, was getting hit with rubber bands and/or the little eraser bags we all had as “drafting tools”.
gjc
RE: Open Concept Offices
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
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RE: Open Concept Offices
I used to study with Scooter blaring through my stereo though at home. Other half is complete opposite, when shes working at home with me, one must be absolutely silent or there is trouble. It drives me nuts some days.
I can see how sometimes particular coworkers habits/voice/face can grind people gears though, worked with a few of those types in the past.
Last job I had in a cube farm, they used to have a radio going full time when I first started (until it broke and wasn't replaced), it was good at drowning out some of the noise and creating some predictable background noise.
RE: Open Concept Offices
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Open Concept Offices
However, I have better than average hearing (both level and frequency range; this is offset by worse than average eyesight) and the noise bothered me more than it did the other people in the cubicles, at least for certain tasks. I learned very quickly during my first stint in a cubicle that I could handle the mathematics/technical side of my job (preparing or reviewing calculations, designs, drawings and details, etc.) in a noisy room, but not the language side of my job (reading, writing, and editing). So, during my first stint in a cubicle, I usually did the language side of my job in a conference room or the office library. During my second stint in a cubicle I was tied to a computer so I spent about $250 on one of the early Sony Walkman disk players and got a 12-disk set of lyric-less classical music. This worked pretty well, but I was sure glad to get back into an office at the first opportunity.
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"Is it the only lesson of history that mankind is unteachable?"
--Winston S. Churchill
RE: Open Concept Offices
1. Coworkers and company culture
2. Acoustics
3. Level of privacy
4. Amount of space provided to each person
The best open office environment I ever worked in provided each employee with their own cubicle. The cubicles themselves were very spacious, and the cubicle walls were solid and about 5 feet tall. All of the floors were carpeted, and there was an acoustical ceiling tile system throughout. It was extremely quiet, overall, and I rarely found myself distracted.
The worst open office environment I ever worked in provided each employee with their own cubicle, however, the cubicle walls were solid only up to about 3 feet. The remainder consisted of a glass panel. The noise level was absolutely terrible. There was no finished ceiling system, many portions of the floors were not carpeted, and the HVAC system sounded like a jet engine. The office was loud, even at times when I was the only one there.
The worst open office environment that I've ever observed was at an A/E firm in New York City. People were packed in there like sardines - elbow to elbow. It was loud, as well, but the lack of privacy and adequate working space were unusually bad.
A friend (and former coworker) of mine likes to joke that the rationale behind this shift towards the open office plan is that people keep parroting this idea that Millennials love it. Trust me - we don't.
RE: Open Concept Offices
RE: Open Concept Offices
RE: Open Concept Offices
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If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.
RE: Open Concept Offices
==========
"Is it the only lesson of history that mankind is unteachable?"
--Winston S. Churchill
RE: Open Concept Offices
RE: Open Concept Offices
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers Entire Forum list http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm
RE: Open Concept Offices
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers Entire Forum list http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm
RE: Open Concept Offices
RE: Open Concept Offices
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.
RE: Open Concept Offices
I used to count sand. Now I don't count at all.