Essentially great workspace is not about how big it is, but how well you use it. I wrote an article<http://www.society30.com/workspace-design-big-well-use/>for Society 3.0 this week to provide more insight into what we can learn from the study, as well as some key gaps missing in traditional open-space design (user-orientation and diversity of spaces)
On Wednesday, November 27, 2013 12:32:01 AM UTC+11, MarcusTrugilho wrote: > > We have an open-plan office here at Pto de Contato (www.pto.ec) and > sometimes (rarely actually) the issue of noise level comes up. We then talk > to the noisy coworkers and it's done. > > Of course open-plan offices are not for everybody, as aren't cubicles, > home office, vault closed offices (sic), or any other offices that might > exist now or in the future. Our world has more than 6 billion people and > each and every one has he's way of living and he's preferences of working > space. > > One thing we know for sure, because we have been living it for the past 5 > years. Most of the workers (be them freelancers or corporate workers that > were dying in their own cubicles) that have passed through here were very > glad and claimed to be more productive than their previous situation. > > And we have many success cases of cross work, where one coworker makes a > project with another, and some we know that wouldn't happen in other > conditions. > > We use to say that coworking (and open-plan offices by the way) are not > substitutes to regular offices, but they are a complement and spaces where > you can meet people you wouldn't in a usual work routine and that can > contribute a lot to your own project. > > As for privacy, one can know in 5 minutes sitting close to someone if they > are paying attention to what you are talking, and in this case, we have > other 49 seats where you can change to. Or meeting rooms and other more > private areas if you need to openly discuss a sensitive subject. It's just > a matter of getting used to a new environment. > > It's sad to see that are still that many people (and influent ones) with > such a short mind. > > Cheers to you all and long live open-plan offices. > > Marcus Trugilho > > Pto de Contato > A place of ideas for Entrepreneurs > > On Thursday, November 21, 2013 7:56:29 AM UTC-2, Will Bennis, Locus > Workspace wrote: >> >> >> http://www.theguardian.com/news/2013/nov/18/open-plan-offices-bad-harvard-business-review<http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fnews%2F2013%2Fnov%2F18%2Fopen-plan-offices-bad-harvard-business-review&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEKtU8vR-omH_T_hqzXQqQ-dHpVbw> >> >> Putting this out there because I suspect what gets posted is generally >> filtered toward the "coworking positive". >> >> While cubicles are the worst, this article is about shortcomings of >> open-plan offices more generally. >> >> Putting aside the obvious fact that even if open-plan offices aren't for >> everyone, they're certainly preferred by many of us, my existing bias has >> been that most independent workers would do better (in terms of >> psychological health as well as productivity and work quality) over the >> long run in a social work environment than in a private/enclosed office. >> But articles like this make me wonder if that really is just my own bias. >> >> Most of the findings suggested are contrary to what I would expect for >> independent workers, and I wonder how much the results here may be >> contingent on working in an organization (where being in an open plan >> office also corresponds to being lower in the work hierarchy and where many >> of the people you're working alongside are implicit competitors). >> >> Thoughts? Where does this article go wrong (other than suggesting one >> size fits all)? Does it suggest that ideal coworking space design would >> work include ample opportunities for more private work and more isolated >> collaboration? >> >> Will >> > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
