I am currently working at Google as an intern and I'm probably going to be the contradicting opinion in this thread but I really appreciate the openspace office we have here. Maybe because it's my first "real" office job, but I do not find much of a problem working here. When I want to be on my own to think on stuff, I just put my headphones on (sometimes with music, sometimes without, since they are good at canceling noise anyway) and it's like being in my own isolated office. And if that is not enough, we have small cubicle-like mini-rooms where you can go and isolate yourself, most people use them to have phone conversations or do interviews, but nothing stops you from working in there with your laptop.
All in all, though, maybe it's my floor that is very quiet but there's not much distraction or annoying background noise as most people are busy working. When they are not working, they go somewhere else (the pub, the relax rooms, etc etc). If they want to have a work-related conversation that lasts more than 5-10 minutes, we have open areas with whiteboards separated from the desk area, or we have separate conference rooms you can use. Most of the time, I enjoy taking my headphones off and listening to a couple of coworkers making remarks on stuff (either work or non-work related), it helps me relieve stress and boredom much more than just staring at a wall or reading some articles online.
Ironically, the major source of annoyance in our floor recently has been the old AC system that sometimes starts making very loud noises and bothers everybody, but this is not the fault of the openspace office so it doesn't count :)
I liked them too, when I was an intern and the first few years of my real job.
But after I acquired more knowledge it became more stressing, because everyone was asking me stuff all the time. Also I had to listen to all the communication that was going on around me.
Headphones are but a crutch and a bad one too, since all I want is silence when working and no music or anything...
Mind I recommend earplugs if you want absolute quietness? Sometimes I do wear headphones on without anything playing, because they provide really good sound isolation. You could get specifically noise-canceling headphones for that.
Regarding getting asked all the time by other people, I would think that is more of an organization problem. Nothing stops me from pinging coworkers on irc or any other IM program for help or actually going to their office in person. As an advantage to openspace office, I can just raise my head, look at my coworker and ask "hey, do you have a second?". More often than not I get a "sure, give me a few minutes" if they are busy or they can just lean over or walk to my desk without wasting too much time. And if it's a more serious issue it's "Shall we move to a more private place?".
I honestly don't see a problem, nobody stops you from telling your coworkers to check the documentation regarding their question (if there is one, is it a common question? Maybe you should write something up since you are more knowledgeable on the matter and don't like being interrupted about it). But yeah, this is probably because I'm just an intern and I don't have experience on the matter, but I enjoy working like this.
The fact that you have to wear noise-canceling headphones (bought on your own dime, no less) to get work done is an indication that the space has failed in its primary purpose, which is to enable you to get your work done. A good office layout (or any good architecture, really) does not force the people who live in it to fight against the environment it creates.
You don't have to, you can do it. And who said anything about buying it on your own dime? It depends on the company but I'm fairly sure any of the big companies with such open offices will provide them to you for free upon request.
I would say the benefits of getting your work done vs having complete and entire silence are not so easy to summarize. A lot of people in this thread seem to assume that an open space office is super noisy full of people talking where in my (very limited, I admit) experience there's hardly any noise other than the sound of people hammering on keyboards (and the AC). There are occasional conversations but those last a few seconds because, as I already said, if they were longer, people would move out of the way.
Maybe it depends on the company, people and office.
I am a SWE for Google and my area is super noisy. Construction, dogs barking (on our floor), phone calls, etc. My job requires me to work with a lot of PCBs, so I have to stay at my desk; I can't exactly curl up somewhere quiet.
I hate the noise level here. I haven't yet worked up the courage to expense a good pair of noise canceling headphones, but it may come to that.
Google HQ is officially a "dog friendly" campus, and dogs are welcome in the engineering offices, where some bark. Some owners respond by taking their dogs outside immediately, but others just shush their pet, which of course resumes barking half a minute later.
Polite requests to take it away are met with "Oh, she's usually not like this, I don't know what's wrong, I'm sure she'll be quiet now..." And nobody wants to be "that guy" by telling the owners to take their dog and GTFO. So the dogs end up staying.
It does. We have people doing speaker phone calls with bad connections where they are yelling, endless joking and cackling, people walking by and saying 'hi' to you when you are deep in code. It's utterly impossible.
Agreed - there is something nice about having a quiet space to retreat to at work so you can focus on getting stuff done without any noise/distractions. I miss having a private office sorely since everyone just goes to me and asks me questions, making it harder for me to be productive. Oftentimes these questions are ones that if the developer did more research, he/she could have figured it out.
>Oftentimes these questions are ones that if the developer did more research, he/she could have figured it out.
Have you tried pointing that out to your coworkers? I've had plenty of cases where asking a question gave me a "Sure, here's how you do it. But the next time, be aware you can do X and Y instead." and that taught me to look up stuff first before asking silly questions. I just don't feel like this is a problem related to openspace offices.
The easier it is to ask a question, the lower the quality of those questions.
I can't remember how often I "fixed" something by telling the people they have to empty their browser cache or that they aren't in the right directory...
It's not just the decibel level that damages hearing. Constant, low-volume white noise can damage hearing as well. I know quite a few ex-signals intelligence folk who are nearly deaf in their left ears from sitting in trailers, holding the cans up to their left ear while transcribing radio transmissions.
I'm pretty sure I have my own mild hearing loss problem in my right ear from the near-constant headphone use I had to do in the last open-floor plan office I worked in. It's not just "things sound quiet". Everything sounds normal volume. It just sounds muddy and garbled if people are talking in lower registers.
I think that's the crux of the argument right here. I think most people who experienced both, myself included, will strongly disagree.
> it helps me relieve stress and boredom much more than just staring at a wall or reading some articles online.
Just staring at a wall? Come on, having a personal office door means you can open it and interact with other people when you so desire. Not when they so desire.
Yes, when you are new and not doing much work, and often asking your neighbors for help (as a junior person should!), the open offices are fine. (But team rooms are better) When you are trying to get work done, not so much.
> we have small cubicle-like mini-rooms ... but nothing stops you from working in there with your laptop.
That seems like a waste of the monstrously powerful workstations with 30" monitors
It's your first job, just wait, they do get old, specially when things like, I don't know, your girlfriend breaks up with you and you just wanna get down to work and not talk about the last episode of game or thrones, and what you did this weekend (fight with your girlfriend).
Maybe I'm different, I'd like to be alone for a longer time at the office, I get the best work done when I'm working from home too.
All in all, though, maybe it's my floor that is very quiet but there's not much distraction or annoying background noise as most people are busy working. When they are not working, they go somewhere else (the pub, the relax rooms, etc etc). If they want to have a work-related conversation that lasts more than 5-10 minutes, we have open areas with whiteboards separated from the desk area, or we have separate conference rooms you can use. Most of the time, I enjoy taking my headphones off and listening to a couple of coworkers making remarks on stuff (either work or non-work related), it helps me relieve stress and boredom much more than just staring at a wall or reading some articles online.
Ironically, the major source of annoyance in our floor recently has been the old AC system that sometimes starts making very loud noises and bothers everybody, but this is not the fault of the openspace office so it doesn't count :)