Large Tech Companies Moving Beyond the Cubicle

statemachine writes in with a story from Silicon Valley about how Intel and Cisco, among other companies, are experimenting with cubeless, open, and unassigned seating. "Beginning this month, [Intel] will set up three experimental work sites. Open areas, comfortable armchairs, extra conference rooms and tables where people can plop down with laptops will replace the ubiquitous cubes that have been standard issue for decades. Each morning, Intel employees will log onto the corporate network using wireless connections. Their phone numbers will follow them. White boards that employees use to sketch out business plans and project strategies will be outfitted with electronics so drawings and plans can be transferred to laptops and e-mailed to colleagues. 'People feel much more comfortable coming up to me. It's more of a friendly atmosphere,' Cisco senior manager Ted Baumuller said. 'I hope I never have to go back to cubes.'"

Comments

Re:What about personal things

[Professor_UNIX]

Irrelevant in the new economy. We need employees to be fluid and quick to react to any situation. When it comes time to lay them off they should be able to leave at a moment's notice with little to no trace that they ever existed at the company other than their e-mail account and storage space on the company file server which are being wiped as we speak. Turn in your badge and laptop and calmly wait for security to escort you off the premises.

Re:My company did this to send people home

[value_added]

I was moved from a single office, with a door, to a double up office, to a cube farm in a call center with cube walls one foot higher than the desk.

Hope you got to keep that red stapler, at least.

Bad idea

[Blue6]

makes it harder to read /. at work.

Now get back to work wage donkeys!

I see some sterile nerds in the near future.

[RandoX]

No desks? Laptops on for 8 hours? You do the math.

Re:What about personal things

[Anonymous Coward]

It isn't too hard to claim a personal spot in a situation like this. Just eat a lot "while working" and make sure the crumbs are all over the chair. Fart a lot into the seat cushion and make sure people hear it from time to time. Trust me, that spot is all yours...

Not Exactly New

[jeffx]

Cisco's office in Atlanta had something very similar to this in 1999. I remember thinking it was a pretty cool way of using technology but not something I would want to work in. At the time I liked having little geek toys decorating my cube. It would have taking a long time to set up my toys again and again.

Who am I kidding, I still have little geek toys decorating my workspace.

Re:I'm lucky

[Rob T Firefly]

My work requires my test equipment (45kg) and its power module (20kg), a signal generator (20kg), a specter analyser (30kg), an oscilloscope (5kg), a lab power suply (5kg) and dozens of meters of various cabling What's it like being a Ghostbuster?

Re:As a european from

[seven of five]

I guess that's proof that there's life on Europa.

Re:nothing new about *that* economy...

[twistedsymphony]

Dom: So um, Milton has been let go?

Bob Slydell: Well just a second there, professor. We uh, we fixed the glitch. So he won't be receiving a paycheck anymore, so it will just work itself out naturally.

Bob Porter: We always like to avoid confrontation, whenever possible. Problem solved from your end.

Scorpio

[halcyon1234]

Relax, Homer. At Globex, we don't believe in walls.

Re:terrible terrible terrible

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean coffee stains, skin particles, food grease, saliva, boogers, pubic hair.

I'm intrigued about your work environment