| All the jobs I've had since college have had an open workspace. Of those, 3 stand out as particularly pertinent to this topic. At Job 1, a consulting company, we had an agreed upon culture of noise. We had music playing loudly most of the time and about 30 developers collaborating on different client projects. High vaulted ceilings definitely contributed to noise. It was definitely chaotic, but we managed to remain productive regardless. At Job 2, my current job (also consulting), we have talked at great length about keeping things quiet and respecting each other's concentration. We have side-rooms if we need to collaborate, and use them frequently. We use chat to ask each other questions rather than tapping on the shoulder (most of the time). I feel extremely productive there (even more so than job 1) and while offices might make tapping on the shoulder even less common, I feel a sense of camaraderie there that I don't think I'd get if I was isolated with a closed door. Job 3 was by far the worst. It was a similar open space for the entire product team. However, we never had much discussion about communication style or noise, we just always said we don't like being interrupted. Looking back on it, I think productivity was easier at jobs 1 & 2 because we had all agreed on our culture, so we could find ways to work around it. Job 3 was hard because we never knew what to expect. One day it could be quiet and easy to concentrate, but the next it could be noisy and impossible to work in. The lesson for me is that honesty and openness is most important. If people speak up when they are having a hard time concentrating, then everyone can work together to try to improve the situation. This assumes of course the team respects each other enough to compromise; but if they don't you probably have bigger problems. |