cubicle environment

[Renata]

A group of us software developers is looking for some information, and we
were hoping someone in this forum could help us out. Our company is moving
from an office environment into a cubicle environment, and we are looking
for any examples of successful cubicle implementations (does this exist?).
Any feedback would be useful as we have an opportunity to provide input
into the design. Examples of things that didn’t work well would also be
useful. Thanks.

[MarkN]

Break down the walls, man. Really, depending on how much team interaction
you have you might want to break down the walls. If you can, get easily
movable walls. Typical cubical walls are expensive and expensive to move.
The team I was working on was 4 developers in connected 4 cubes. We removed
the inner walls and put small dividers between each. Worked well. Noise?
Still had it over the walls.

"Renata" <RAbramowicz@lgc.com> wrote:
>
>A group of us software developers is looking for some information, and we
>were hoping someone in this forum could help us out. Our company is moving
>from an office environment into a cubicle environment, and we are looking
>for any examples of successful cubicle implementations (does this exist?).
> Any feedback would be useful as we have an opportunity to provide input
>into the design. Examples of things that didn’t work well would also be
>useful. Thanks.

[Eddie Burdak]

Renata,

Renata wrote:
:: A group of us software developers is looking for some information,
:: and we were hoping someone in this forum could help us out. Our
:: company is moving from an office environment into a cubicle
:: environment, and we are looking for any examples of successful
:: cubicle implementations (does this exist?).

Dilbert springs to mind.

http://www.dilbert.com/

Sorry - couldn't resist

Eddie

[Mike Mitchell]

On 8 Apr 2003 11:37:50 -0800, "Renata" <RAbramowicz@lgc.com> wrote:

>
>A group of us software developers is looking for some information, and we
>were hoping someone in this forum could help us out. Our company is moving
>from an office environment into a cubicle environment, and we are looking
>for any examples of successful cubicle implementations (does this exist?).
> Any feedback would be useful as we have an opportunity to provide input
>into the design. Examples of things that didn’t work well would also be
>useful. Thanks.

You have a very positive work environment if you have persuaded
management to allow this! I never did. For years we had to work with
very low partitions between desks and the amount of general hubbub
that went on was very distracting. None of the developers ever managed
to convince the managers that even shoulder height partitions should
be installed. The management was much more concerned with the general,
symmetrical "look" of the department when visitors came round, and to
have partitions higher in the IT section would have destroyed the
funky shriek, they said.

So, if you manage to get anything at all to separate the thinking,
creative process from a huge babble of noise, congratulations! Your
productivity will shoot up, and your stress levels will plummet.

MM

[jim scandale]

My experience has included 2-person offices, cubicles with 5-foot walls and
a large open room with about 12 developers. The 2-person offices were fairly
quiet, the cubicles were almost impossible (most of the people who could,
wore earphones and played music all day. One woman wore unconnected earphones
as sound protection). The 12-person room (it's the entire company) is mostly
very quiet; probably because in a cubicle (the appearance of privacy with
the reality of the opposite) a noisy person can be convinced that nobody
else can hear while in an open room, it's obvious that everybody is disturbed
by noise.
I guess it's obvious that my personal bias is toward absolute quiet for thinking
and software development needs a lot of thinking. I can't even listen to
music while I work; I find myself listening to the music and productivity
goes into the toilet.
I'm not sure why "Renata" is moving from offices to cubicles. I know that
offices are more expensive but if productivity suffers, maybe the trade-off
is in favor of the privacy and quiet.
If the cubicles are unavoidable, get the highest walls possible and sound-absorbing
carpet and ceiling tiles can help. Make sure that the cubicles are big enough
and that the work-surfaces are at least 36 inches deep (42 is better). And
an absolute "law" that meetings, even of 2 people, must move to a conference
room (with walls) after 5 minutes (maybe 10 if voices are low). There's nothing
worse than trying to meet a deadline while a loud ad-hoc meeting is going
on in the next cubicle. It's the ad-hoc meetings that are the worst; scheduled
ones usually are in a conf room. I see that I have mentioned "conference
room" a number of times. Having enough of them is important and outfitting
them with lots of whiteboard and a network drop is even more important if
any work is going to be done there. And all multi-person work *should* be
done there.
Oh, and don't be fooled by "building planners" who decree that nothing should
extend above the cubicle walls. This is not a safety issue (as they will
surely say) but an unobstructed-view issue, like the uniform color scheme
issue and the no-pictures-on-the-walls issue. Once these clueless hacks get
a bit of control, they run wild (probably because they have finally found
something within their capabilities).



>On 8 Apr 2003 11:37:50 -0800, "Renata" <RAbramowicz@lgc.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>A group of us software developers is looking for some information, and
we
>>were hoping someone in this forum could help us out. Our company is moving
>>from an office environment into a cubicle environment, and we are looking
>>for any examples of successful cubicle implementations (does this exist?).
>> Any feedback would be useful as we have an opportunity to provide input
>>into the design. Examples of things that didn’t work well would also be
>>useful. Thanks.
>