For several years now, misguided management has sought to usher in "open workspaces" into their businesses with the promise that such workspaces will improve collaboration and productivity. It doesn't. It ushers in distractions and countermeasures (like headphones) that do just the opposite.
From the constant ringing of phones, loud talkers, endless parades of people passing by, and in general, people doing their normal daily things in the office, the distractions are many and big. And when we don our headphones to get work done, we do not hear the conversations closest to us that may be related to what we are specifically working on.
Just to be clear, I'm an engineer and I work for engineering companies. While some other industries may have some benefit from open workspaces, we don't. I have never met a single engineer that wanted an open workspace. I have never met a single engineer who had the misfortune of being in one and actually liked it. Quite the contrary. They hated the open workspace and some even changed companies because of it.
I think I found one of the reasons why the idea of open workspaces gets floated up to management. I have observed over the years that those in management and administration often have private offices, semi-private offices, high-wall cubes, or otherwise feel somewhat isolated from their colleagues. I have at times observed these individuals trying to communicate by shouting from one office to the other.
They see their own situation, feel the isolation, and come to the erroneous conclusion that everyone must have the same issue. We don't.
I honestly don't envy their more private confines. While I would like more privacy at my desk, I'm content with "just enough". I sit in a tiny cube with mid-height walls that shield me from most major interruptions, though not all. I can put on my headphones and ignore everything around me to get work done when I need to. I can also take them off and not hear people thirty feet away from me talking on the phone. I like that.
The point in this ... whatever it is (rant?) ... is that just because YOU may feel isolated and want to be out in the open, collaborating, sharing, moving, shaking, etc., that does not mean the rest of us would want to. In fact, engineers will tell you to your face that we HATE open workspaces and will do all we can to reject them and keep them away from us.
Now what is ironic about this is what actually happens with open workspaces. The very same managers, HR staff, and admin staff require some modicum of seclusion to protect the private data and conversations of employees. And to that end, they remain in offices and more private confines like high-walled cubes that sometimes have cube doors. That makes sense.
But that's where I get really disgusted. The very people who clamor for open workspaces and interrupt my day with their noise and bad idea are the very people who will not be sitting in an open workspace.
So, no thank you. I never want an open workspace. Practically no engineer in the industry does. If people so desperately want open workspaces, do your open workspaces in some other industry but stay out of the technology industry. All you will do is irritate tens of thousands of engineers who would otherwise be doing what they do but instead spend time being interrupted, distracted, and griping about sitting in an open workspace.
I have sat in open workspaces in the past. With all sincerity, I tell you this. It feels like sitting in the middle of a shopping mall food court during the lunch rush. I utterly detest it. So do most engineers and technologists.
So keep this in mind, managers, admins, HR, and others: engineering, IT, tech repair, and similar job functions are for the most part solo activities. You can't force us together and expect improvement. You will get problems, lower productivity, and far lower employee morale.
This has been a public service announcement from your friendly, leave-me-alone-I-have-code-to-write, engineer.
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