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

What about personal things

[WetCat]

like books, personal items, photos, etc?

Re:What about personal things

[tommasz]

Exactly. I've seen the "no assigned seating" idea applied to tech support people and they were all miserable. The rules included no personal effects allowed so many of them carried a floppy with pictures of their family that they would load into whatever computer they were assigned and display on the desktop or in a screensaver. I think there's something fundamental about having a space of your own, no matter how small or humble, and I wonder how long this will last before people start claiming a particular place.

Re:What about personal things

[psychicsword]

It is like in an elementary school lunch where even though people have no assigned seats they still sit in the same general area with the same people. I am guessing the same thing will happen here.

Re:What about personal things

[tbg58]

Well said. Interesting statement by the faceless corporation to employees. It will be interesting to see how removing any sense of personal ownership in the office space works out for the companies that try this. Sure, cubes were pathetic, but at least you had a bit of space that was yours. Next they'll announce a calculus with space available for workers = 0.75 * number of workers. This will help cut down on those non-productive bathroom breaks and trips to the water cooler. Don't leave your space - someone else will snag it. Brilliant.

Re:What about personal things

[jdray]

I started work for an energy company six months ago. I'm an IT guy, but sitting on the trading floor, "embedded" as it were. All the "cube" walls are waist high, and sitting in my chair I can see the entire length and breadth of the room. Furthermore, the workspaces are sixteen by eight, with one sixteen-foot side open. One person occupies each corner, but in a pinch you can stuff someone into the space between two people.

It took me about three weeks to get used to the new arrangement, completely different from the 66" high, eight by eight cubes I had at my last job. We've got a little space to hang personal goods; a little over a foot of wall protrudes above the desk surface, and you can set little things on the wall rim. After settling in, I found that I like this arrangement far better than I liked the other system. You can look at people while you're talking to them several cubes away without getting up, and you can keep an eye on your clients without leaning over their shoulders. It makes you more accessible to your clients too, which his good in my case, but that's not best for everyone.

I'm a very social person, and like interaction with people. That's not for everyone, and I'm probably a bit outside of the norm for my chosen profession. If I want some privacy, I put on my headphones and make the world disappear. The boss, who frequently walks up to check on the state of the world, doesn't care if we surf the web, so long as we don't abuse the privilege and get our work done (I can post this without staring over my shoulder). For the most part, my counterpart and I are left to our own devices so long as nothing goes haywire.

That's something that a lot of companies (for instance, the electric utility I left to take this job) would have a hard time with; the idea of leaving people to do what they do and not worry so much about work style. If you take down people's walls (literally), you have to make them feel like they're not exposed. The cultural shift has to start at the top, not at the cube wall.

Re:What about personal things

[gznork26]

Having personal things, physical ones, in the area where you work humanizes it. Despite the reasons given by management for this, or the rationalizations given by the affected workers for accepting it, implementing it will still have the same chilling effect on the thoughts and actions of those living or working in the sterile environment. What surrounds you, affects you, and reinforces whatever characteristics you express through it. So the workforce will be that much less in touch with their own guiding principles. If you are most at ease, and therefore most empowered, when you are surrounded with reminders of certain people, places or ideas, then while you are in this intentionally rootless environment, you will be less at ease, less empowered, and thereby easier to control.

I've been in IT since 1972. I've worked in bull-pens and cubes. I've worked in the employer's space, and in my own. The environment in which you spend your time affects your behavior. The difference is that those in power are now aware of this.

In any group that is structured around leaders and rules, such as businesses, armies and to some extent, political parties, it is important to be able to exert control over those not in charge. Regardless of why this is being done, whether to save space or money, or whatever other explanation is offered, the psychological effects are the same. Knowing this can help to limit the effects, but that is only true for those who are conscious of these subtle power games. The rest of the workers slip ever-so-slowly into the mind-set of drones.

Think of it like that frog, being turned into Borg so slowly that it doesn't even notice.

But small changes can also be used to make big changes, if you know what you're doing. Introducing a new idea, a meme that infects one person after another, can also change the world. Like what happened in a story on my blog called "Business Decision"...

* * *
Evan studied the portly man standing in front of the curved dais for a moment before answering.

Jason Sweeney had attended Council meetings before, a silent but imposing presence brooding in the far corner. A curious glance was enough to influence the more convivial constituents in the room, causing them to stay well away lest they become enamored of whatever unsavory business had paid for the custom woven fabrics of his business suit, and led him to wear such uncomfortable-looking shoes. But something was different today. Something had driven him to exchange the shadows at the edge of the room for a brightly lit moment at the center of attention.
* * *

The whole story is here
http://klurgsheld.wordpress.com/2007/06/14/short-story-business-decision/

Re:What about personal things

[kevin_conaway]

You can look at people while you're talking to them several cubes away without getting up

And what about the the people occupying those cubes in between you and the person you're talking to?

Re:What about personal things

[Metaphorically]

institute a fluid bucket system. Your personal stuff is in a bucket, each employee carries their bucket around. I have a hard enough time deluding myself into thinking I'm a professional sitting in a cubicle. Now you want me to do it while carrying all my personal belongings in a bucket???

Re:What about personal things

[Austerity Empowers]

That all sounds great in theory, but having some amount of privacy and a place to go that isn't noisy and full of people and subject to so much easy distraction is advantageous.

Further, as a HW guy, I often keep equipment, boards, etc. that I'm working on in my "personal space" (cube, lab bench with my name on it). I do this a) to isolate stuff I've modified so that someone else won't take it and get hit with my nonsense and b) to protect the stuff I'm working on when some MGR tries to get promoted by shortchanging us on equipment. I do not wish to lose hours a day hunting for parts, or stealing a board to work on, getting apparatus set up, and then doing testing..every day.

Finally, imagine a world where both HW, Software and Mechanical engineers like to have multiple large screen monitors on their desk (all of these jobs benefit greatly). This sort of thing can't be done easily with this open floor plan environment. Everyone's needs are not the same, but the exceptions are more numerous than the rules. Sales, marketing and management can often live with this "on the go" lifestyle, as their duties are necessarily more social and dynamic...but for a lot of us grunts who actually design and cause to be built the products companies make money on...we need desks.

Unfortunately I see us being victimized by this process (having in the past 5 years gone from an office, to a large cube with high walls, to a small cube with low walls, to soon a smaller cube with smaller walls, to this new stupid thing) until it's realized it doesn't work. We live in the era of "one size fits all", even when it's blatantly obvious that it doesn't...mgmt proceeds to do so anyway until they get "data" that proves it.

Re:What about personal things

[lgw]

Oh, no, if thgis ever happened to me, it would *have to be* a bucket - one of those janitors buckets with wringer attached!

Re:What about personal things

[lgw]

Lots of people prefer the open concept because they're more social and like the interaction or because their jobs require more collaboration. Yes, lots of people have sales and marketing jobs. They all belong on the set of a reality TV show anyway, no loss. Meanwhile if you want tech workers (especially developers) to produce anything, they need an interruption-free environment. Non-geeks will never understand, only wonder why their project failed.

Don't kid yourselves, it's all about costs

[cerberusss]

Open areas (...) will replace the ubiquitous cubes

Yes, great! And we will need less office space! Isn't it great!?

Don't kid yourselves, this is just about some PHB wanting to save on office space, cramming yet another dozen workers in the same space.

Re:Don't kid yourselves, it's all about costs

[mh1997]

this is just about some PHB wanting to save on office space, cramming yet another dozen workers in the same space.

I'd be willing to bet that it isn't about office space at all. If you are in an open area, it is harder to surf the internet, make personal calls, play games on your computer, or post to slashdot.

Re:Don't kid yourselves, it's all about costs

[Red Flayer]

Not just about better utilization of space. Also about better productivity. FTA:

Productivity also is up, said Larry Matarazzi, Cisco's senior director of workplace resources. Ted Baumuller, a senior manager in Cisco's information technology department, agrees. He said the time it takes to make decisions has been cut by 25 to 30 percent because it's easier to round up the team, and collegial relationships have improved by working in a more open environment.

It's a double win for mgmt. As stated in the article, they can redesign to have more conference rooms, they can add more staff to the same location -- and they also get productivity enhancement.

Still, I'm not sure why you view this so negatively, or have such bad feelings towards management. I've worked in open floor plans when my role was conducive to it (requiring lots of interaction, etc). Now my role is much more autonomous, and I really need uninterrupted time to get my time-sensitive work done (hence relishing office privacy and coming to work at 6 AM). My experience with unassigned floor plans was that I got more accomplished, and thus felt better about my work -- AND I enjoyed better relationships with my coworkers. The downside was inhibited ability to hunker down and cram out work -- this was solved by setting aside a portion of the office as a DND area. Except for real emergencies, DND was observed by everyone.

Re:Don't kid yourselves, it's all about costs

[jbengt]

"He said the time it takes to make decisions has been cut by 25 to 30 percent because it's easier to round up the team, . . . "

How the hell is it easier to round up the team when no one has a known location?

Management != Techies

[AceJohnny]

So the senior manager is happy with the arrangement? Great. Guess what: that kind of guy deals with people all day long. It makes sense to make it easier for him to interact with people.
But not for me. I'm a hardcore techie. I spend days not interacting with people, fighting with the code, and I need my concentration. Every time I get interrupted, I need about 20 minutes to get back to work properly.
Yep, I'm in a cubicle. I hear everything that happens around me, and maybe I'm just not good enough to blank it out. I regularly have to reserve meeting rooms just to have a little peace and quiet to be able to think.

Yeah, I'm mad because my request for noise-isolating headphones was turned down. Does it show?

books and junk

[PetriBORG]

And where are they supposed to put their dozens of Unix/Windows and programming language books or other engineering books? Paperwork? Is this also supposed to be the magical land of the paperless office? I'm all for more open spaces - my team of programmers and I all go down to the lab every day and work next to each other instead of in our cubes, but we still have cubes to hold all that random paper junk. Pete

The King Is Dead - Long Live The King

[CmdrGravy]

Great, I'm sure this isn't the first time a large company has had such a 'radical' idea. The problem is that whilst it does sound like a nice working environment it's likely only ever going to be actually adopted in a small number of prestige or flagship areas.

Everyone else will continue working in the exactly the same was as they normally do because companies cannot afford and cannot be bothered to spend the money to do this for 90% of their employees.

"I've just seen this new strategy re the comfy seating and un-assigned working locations"
"Excellent, that's marrrvellous"
"Yes, most of our chairs already meet the recommended comfort standard so we'll keep those. The only thing is they're not really suitable for using laptops with so we'll keep the desks too since they're handy places to put the phones and coffee etc on. Now most of our guys work in teams and are kind of settled where they are but obviously we don't actually directly assign specifc seats so I guess that takes of everything ?"
"Marrvellous, our new strategy is a grrreeat success !"
"Yes, I knew you'd agree."

So we get to implement Snow Crash's Office Plan

[Anonymous Coward]

That sounds like the office plan from Snow Crash, where you weren't assigned a desk, and you demonstrated your loyalty by where you sat; determined by when you arrived in the morning.

Contrast that with Joel's Software, where each person gets his/her own office with a window, read what he says about it and how it improves productivity. http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BionicOffice.html

Perfect

[moosesocks]

Whenever I go to work, I typically sit thinking to myself for several minutes.... "How could this be made more like cheap air travel?

I am glad to see that Intel has now answered that call.

Re:Backward Tech Companies

[AaronLawrence]

Normally the open plan offices translate into qualitative benefits in the company (people are happier, more collaborative, less secretive etc...).

Oh really? And that applies to software development as well does it? And it means more productivity as well, right - of course many people are happy to sit in a big open office and chat all day, but do they get more work done?

Joel believes it's all rubbish and private offices are much more productive. Personally, I have seen exactly the same thing. When I started at my current job we all were in one room. It was very sociable and we all agreed on what to do ... for every. Single. Task. Amazingly our boss noticed this and deliberately gave us separate offices, and this seems a lot better. You can still go and chat to people, but you don't involve everyone just to talk to one guy, and when people need to concentrate they can.

Frankly, those studies are either not applicable or just missing the point.

Re:Backward Tech Companies

[CommandNotFound]

Also, didn't the early productivity studies regarding lighting show that productivity went because of the study itself? Wikipedia is down, so I can't link it, but if I recall, they changed the lighting, and productivity went up 15%. They changed the lighting back, and productivity still went up 15%. They determined that people worked harder because of the study.

idiot mods

[Anonymous Coward]

How does an on topic, cautious, and completely respectful post get modded by TWO different people as a troll?

Welcome to lawsuit land

[PipingSnail]

Give it four or five years and there will be a lot of lawsuits because of Repetitive Strain Injury. Laptops are bad for ergonomics and RSI, as are "comfy" chairs etc.

These companies are just setting themselves up for a whole heap of trouble. I'm glad I don't work there.

RSI Info

terrible terrible terrible

[dindi]

1. no personal items
Did I have photos in my cubicle ? No. but some people do. They have plants, action hero figures... etc etc. I personally only had specially crafted documents (crap no one else understands), but I know how deep people get hurt every time they moved them.

2. YES personal items.
No, I do not mean photos. I mean coffee stains, skin particles, food grease, saliva, boogers, pubic hair. No I am not a health/cleaning freak at all, but these are the personal items you ALWAYS find at someone else's desk/area.

3. My chi
I am sorry, but sitting at a different place disturbs my concentration, provides new distractions, and it takes time to learn to learn how to lock out that annoying new neighbor who chats to the wife screaming on the phone.

4. Special devices
Unless you are that uniform person who works with the standard given crap you are in trouble. Do I need a 22" to program code?
Well, not necessarily (even though at home I have one, so more text fits on it), but at work the standard 17" will do.
Then what? Oh well, I hate mice, and being a rather tall individual I cannot stand regular keyboards - too tight. Besides knowing how crappy the the keyboards and mice were the last Fortune 10 gave to the employees, even if I was ok with mice and regular keyboards I would differ to use any given one.
Pickiness? Well, when you spend 10+ hours at a computer (did I say 16+ ? ), and I am sure a lot of guys here do, you want the best input devices. I personally only work with a Logi trackman and any (non-cheap-o) split keyboard : MS, Fellowes are OK, without these I suffer after a few hours of working.

But then again I am a sociopath and quit a good job because I hated cubicle life so much, and I love to work bare-feet, underwear with my dogs sleeping next to me....

Anyway, this kind of workplace sharing is completely incompatible with me. I program and sysadmin, and while "sysadmining" tolerates socializing and noise at times of maintenance/support, programming needs dead silence and no changing environment for me. So does systems engineering, or even installing an unknown feature into an environment (e.g. reading docs, and try until it works kinda stuff).

Put it into any coating, it comes back to saving money to these corporations. It has nothing to do with you being well changing workstations.

Just my 2c.

damn I would do anything, even write a book on /. to avoid finishing that project I am late with :(

Re:This is not new

[everphilski]

Cubicles are isolated and depressing. Embrace the european style.

No thanks. I have 10'x10' space that is all my own, desks on three sides of it, a 4 shelf bookshelf, room for a mini fridge and I can put whatever I want on the walls short of nude pictures. My cube is practically a study. No way i'd give it up except for a larger cubicle or office (which is a cubicle with a door)

Re:In Support of Open Plan

[east coast]

If you can see someone is at their desk by standing up and looking across the office, you are much more likely to walk over and talk than to send an email or call someone who is 20 feet away. It may sound inefficient to a slashdotter, but face-to-face communication is really useful.

Yes and no. While face to face may be able to bring a faster exchange of ideas it's also nice to have that black and white conversation trail to work from. Not unlike Slashdot, just talking about an issue without a reference point can lead into a problem becoming confused and focus is more easily lost. Also, e-mail gives us the opportunity to sit back for a couple of minutes and think about problems instead of feeling urged to just fire back an answer.

So the decision on which option is the best for communication comes down to the issue and the individuals involved.

Depends on your job

[Avatar8]

I see this working for groups where collaboration is important, but where privacy or quiet is needed these areas are a major disruption. Everyone here is reacting differently, but not everyone is saying what it is they do for a job.

Jobs that are conducive to this environment:
- marketing
- pre-sales engineers
- artists (graphical, musical, etc.)
- people managers
- sales people (maybe). Depends if they are usually out in the field or taking calls from customers.

Jobs that should be conducive to this environment but the workers wouldn't enjoy it:
- human resources: easily accessible, able to really keep a pulse on morale but a constant need for privacy.
- desktop support: easily accessible, immediately aware of issues but unable to get proactive work done.

Jobs that absolutely cannot work in this environment:
- developer: needs absence of interruptions and quiet for concentration.
- security: no one should be able to peek at security information whether physical or logical.
- sysadmin: same as security plus during a failure the accessability and interruptions would be detrimental.
- accounting/payroll: security concerns as well as customer privacy issues.

I could see a hybrid environment working well - a handful of cubes and offices and 75% of the space as described above. Once you get past the job descriptions, then you must consider whether or not it's conducive for the company's industry. At Cisco and Intel where you have a high percentage of "idea" people and sales people, it works. I'm quite certain the engineers, IT and some back office functions will not and cannot be part of this experiment.

Might as well work at Starbucks

[MMInterface]

Seriously. This is like working at Starbucks. It is not a good way to concetrate or focus. I recently got my own office and things are much better. In my last position I worked in a similar environment and it is not easy to work with code while the hyper active tech editor wouldn't stop talking about selling her house and asking you to fix her computer when it isn't broken. As strange as it sounds we still didn't end up collaborating until meetings even though we all sat next to each other and listened to all our bio noises after lunch. Headphones are great for hearing your own noise but after a while I get tired of hearing my own music. Yea it was great. Management crap that sounds ok but is horrible in practice.

Companies like it because it's CHEAPER!!!

[swordgeek]

That's it.

You can call it an 'open concept' office, you can call it 'hot-desking,' but at the end of the day it's a way of providing less space and less infrastructure per person. The companies toying with it are 'trying it out' not to see if it helps productivity, but to see if they can get away with it without causing their workers to revolt.