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Cubicles a Giant Mistake

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the we-already-knew-that dept.

J to the D writes "Apparently even the designer of the cubicle believes now that they are a bad idea." From the article: "After years of prototyping and studying how people work, and vowing to improve on the open-bullpen office that dominated much of the 20th century, Propst designed a system he thought would increase productivity (hence the name Action Office). The young designer, who also worked on projects as varied as heart pumps and tree harvesters, theorized that productivity would rise if people could see more of their work spread out in front of them, not just stacked in an in-box."

5 of 374 comments (clear)

  1. What the dead believe by liveinthewire · · Score: 5, Informative
    "even the designer of the cubicle believes now that they are a bad idea."

    Unlikely, since he's been dead for several years.

    1. Re:What the dead believe by _xeno_ · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yeah, he died in 2000, according to this FORTUNE article which was posted in this Slashdot story. From the first paragraph of the article:

      Robert Propst invented nothing so destructive. Yet before he died in 2000, he lamented his unwitting contribution to what he called "monolithic insanity."

      You should read the article. It mentions that he's dead, and it explains (based on accounts by his still-living peers) how his original Action Office devolved into the cubicle.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
  2. Not quite true by WindBourne · · Score: 5, Informative

    Some of the other articles speak about that he still likes the cubicles. What he objects to, is small cubicles. When he designed it, they were about the size of a standard office. Now, they are about 1/6 to 1/8 of the size of an office. Big difference.

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    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  3. "Now" believes it was a mistake? by Rick+Genter · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you read TFA, you'll see that Probst, the inventor of the cubicle, died in 2000. It was actually before then that he realized that cubicles were a mistake...

    --
    Don't underestimate the power of The Source
  4. Re:Just Another Tool by fm6 · · Score: 5, Informative
    That's funny. I work at a company where almost everybody has a private office. And yet lots of people go home to work to get away from the distractions!

    The way to eliminate distractions is not to build walls, but to build awareness of people's needs. People need to be aware of how the noise they make affects others. That's not just important in cube land — somebody with a nasty case of "cell phone shout" can reach through walls!