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Building a Cube Farm that Sucks Less?
"In our office, developers are all intermediate to senior. They have a good knowledge of the software package they are working on as well as the business that they are serving.
In this environment, people can generally work for a day or two without having to ask questions. If questions arise, people don't mind walking over to the right person. The cube vendors' breezy assertion that we'll boost productivity by being able to shriek out questions, and overhear conversations (naturally they'll all be related to what we're working on) doesn't seem to fit our work flows.
My guess is that we're basically going to want to retrofit our existing work patterns into a sub-optimal cube environment. We can design in some workrooms with full walls and doors that shut.
Here's what I'm thinking at the moment: Cubes should be quiet, quiet, quiet! Meetings, pair-programming, collaboration or highly hairy coding should be restricted to workrooms, which would be set up with a CPU to Remote Desktop (WinXP) back to the developer's primary development machine.
But this is just what I've dreamt up on my own. Has anyone experimented with this setup? If so, how often do you need to get out of your cube and shut yourself in a room? Is it useful to have white noise piped in, or is it better to have an oppressive rule of silence imposed on everyone?
Many thanks."
The office at my previous company switched to an open plan. We had actual offices for meetings and group work sessions, and the rest of the area set up as a wide open floor, with nice expensive desks and comfy chairs. It took a while for some members of the team to get used to it, but eventually rules and psychological barriers started to naturally fall into place (call out name and ask permission to roll into somebody's "office"; if someone's got headphones on, don't bother 'em; etc).
It was the best boost in productivity we ever had. Spontaneous group brainstorms, pair programming, etc, were much easier.
--riney
You want "war rooms" - a room with a whiteboard, a door, perhaps a water cooler, and a network drop or wireless LAN.
You need several. Don't allow them to be "reserved" - no sign up sheets for these. These are not "conference rooms". These are places your people can go to hash things out on an ad-hoc basis.
You need an absolute ban on speaker phones.
You should discourage anybody from using speakers on their computer - encourage headphone use (at a reasonable volume level).
It still will suck. I went from an office with a door that I could close to a cube farm, and it gets very hard to concentrate. The only benefit cubes have over offices is that management can change things around whenever they feel bored.
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You won't get a very quiet cube farm. Just doesn't happen. However, if the ceiling tiles are the expensive noise absorbers instead of the cheapest crap you can get, then when you sit down it is noticeably quieter than when you stick your head up.
Getting good non-echo cube walls and ceiling tiles is very important. Notice how many people refer to plants . . . often plants installed in the right places noticeably cut down on echos, and even if not consciously noticed it definitely gives a quieter calmer feel to the room.
Pros:
Cons:
So, I like it more than your Office Space style cube farms, but much less than my own office
--
Mando
If your lame management (and if they are not literally lame, I hear that skater's boyfriend is out of jail - you might give him a call) doesn't buy you Dilbert's Ultimate Cube, you should make sure you buy the inflatable cubicle door (with velcro signage) and the Dilbert periscope so you can have the honor of being the first labeled "NOT A TEAM PLAYER!"
At least you aren't in bullpens, or open plan. For a span of nearly 2.5 years I only had a cube of my own for two months. The rest of the time was shared cube, corral, or open office.
So I don't think cubes are so bad. If you can, get nice big ones. I think 10'x10' is ideal. Make sure everyone has a large bookcase in addition to drawers and some lockable storage. Everyone should have a large whiteboard, a guest chair, and a coat hook. Install keyboard trays everywhere.
Some cubes are available with sliding doors. Ours looked a lot like frosted shower doors. These were very popular.
Definitely configure the desks so that people don't have their backs to their "doors".
Good lighting is important! Be careful, though. There's a particular cube system that features lamps that attach to the underside of shelves with gigantic magnets. Be sure not to get those. I've worked at *two* places that had them!
I don't like the super-tall walls, but then I'm too short to see over the default height. Where I've seen the super-tall walls the top parts were glass. This helps to keep the place from seeming like a dungeon.
Finally, headphones, headphones, headphones.
Sarah
This is one of the good things we have here at work. They've even called "War Rooms" on paper signs. They're dotted throughout the building.
Also, getting access to one of our conference rooms (we have lots considering the company size, I've NEVER seen all of them in use at once.) is pretty easy. These are in addition to the war rooms.
Speakerphones are (of course) necessary in the isolated rooms, esp. if your company is multi-location. (The team I'm on has almost daily meetings each morning in a conf room, with a speakerphone to one of our other locations. Yes, our product is developed in two places and it's worked out quite well.)
High walls are a must. All cube walls here are above head height when standing for most people. (A few MIGHT have their eyes above cube level, but these are the excessively tall ones.) High cube walls helps in soundproofing. Sound from more than 2-3 cubicles away is almost completely deadened, and from closer in is still reasonable. Good sound absorption is critical in a cube environment - Don't skimp on this or you'll pay in the long run.
An interesting thing about our layout was that the original CEO of the company had a policy of mixing people throughout the building - Engineers would sit next to supply chain management, etc. It would sometimes be a little less convenient (you'd have to get up and walk to find someone), but it helps people get a little exercise. The fact that most of the engineers are constantly shuttling between their desks and labs means that even if people were seated together (an increasing trend since we merged with another company), they'd STILL have to get up.
Make sure the cubicles are sized well. Mine is monstrous and I was assigned it when I was just an intern. Keep them all the same size so no one feels inferior. Do NOT put more than one person per cubicle!
If management wants easy communication between adjacent cubes - Keep the high walls. People can get up and walk next door, or stand on their desks. (Yes, a few people do this where I work. It works quite well, and often provides a small amount of amusement for anyone walking nearby.) Needless to say, sturdy desktops are important.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
I am in a similar set up where my back faces the cube entrance. To solve the being-sneaked-up on problem, I cover one wall with AOL and other useless CDs shiny side out, so now I have a big mirror. No one can sneak up on me now unless I am being really unobservant.