The open office is something that I've often enjoyed. In more than a few companies I've worked in low cubes, or open cubes, and I've enjoyed having ambient noise around me. When my wife travels, I'll often go to a Borders or Starbucks and work in a "noisy" environment, just to get a little background activity around me.

However I struggled during a visit to Red Gate this year to get things done. Being in an office isn't horrible, but it is distracting. I think that I could work in an office again, but it would take me a few weeks to adjust to the noise, and to the people walking by and saying "hi."  After 8 years of working at home, it's quite a shock when I actually have to go into an office for more than a few hours.

I know that different people have different preferences for their working environment. And companies tend to set up different environments, often based on what management thinks works well, and fits inside of a particular budget. Red Gate has a series of large connected desks, without walls. An open atmosphere that encourages collaboration. The last time I was at Microsoft, they had private offices for developers,  with lots of conference rooms and open spaces. Some smaller companies have everyone in one room.

I almost think that this is a question that ought to be asked in an interview and considered when hiring someone. The amount of productivity you get from someone is impacted by the environment, and changing from an open space to offices, or vice versa, can be a bigger change than you might expect. While you might think this is part of your culture, I think that each individual might need a good portion of their day in an atmosphere that suits their working style. If it doesn't, they probably will not be as productive as you might expect them to be.

Steve Jones

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