[tannerc]

Not every solution will solve every problem for every person.

Some people thrive in open environments, some don’t. Some people need accidental encounters to propel innovative change, some don’t.

To say these types of cultures are “dumb” (or even the opposite) is akin saying “peanut butter is the worst possible thing you could ever eat!” just because you’re allergic to it.

[influx]

My hypothesis is that this style of office is detrimental to most software engineers. Not sure how to prove that though!

[vikramkr]

A randomized controlled trial with some clear prospectively defined measure of detriment would be how to prove that. Actually running a trial like that is going to be logistically near impossible though.

[rcthompson]

The OP's point is that open plan offices don't even encourage things they claim to encourage, like those "accidental encounters" that may be helpful for some people. In an open-plan office, everyone ends up avoiding in-person interaction because of how distracting it can be to those around them.

[tannerc]

A research paper with n = 2 (companies) isn't exactly representative.

Anecdotally, I've seen the complete opposite (where in-person interactions happen far more because of the open floor plan) at three large companies. So the point stands: open floor plans will not produce positive results for every organization, that's to be expected.