[mathattack]

I've found that most open floors at software firms actually turn into exactly the opposite of what they're trying to accomplish.

The goal: Sacrifice a little bit of individual productivity to increase communication and team productivity.

The reality: A couple people are very loud, so the rest put on headsets. 80-90% of the office now only communicates online via instant messages and email. Internal communication suffers a little. Customer communication suffers a lot.