An office space, with a computer always on your face and the expectation that you will be working is probably the worst environment possible for any kind of creative work.
... Or not. Make it an open office space, with people taking around you. Then you'll get the worst possible.
The worst physical office environment I've ever worked in was one where I had an individual office with a door. It was an interior office with no windows, effectively a large closet, and it was pretty depressing and alienating.
Maybe you could argue that you should give all developers offices with doors and exterior windows. But the dimensions of most buildings don't make that practical.
There are no "creative spaces" only creative people. Reminds me of the Mac vs. PC creative work argument. Find good people and they won't care if they work in a cool trendy "loft" in San Fran or a boring grey cubicle in a converted strip mall in Idaho. My workspace is exactly the size of two 19" LCD monitors.
Cement colored offices make people sad, but you don't get much done at a coffee shop.
I think that making your office space awesome (e.g. Google's Tel Aviv office in particular – http://bit.ly/1ePziyy) is the ultimate solution. You need a place where people can be creative but productive, and still interact with others around them so that they don't feel alone and depressed.
If you want the best out of people, you need to give them the best.
Places that produce creative work are often plain. It makes the work stand out more. Also, I think if the work is boring you'd want a more creative space.
However, these just seem wacky and zany. Often tech people have really bad taste, but a lot of money. This type of office is the result. shudder
I remember in the 90s, when I was a teenager, my Dad's work at Allergan (in Irvine, Orange County, California, not far from Blizzard's office) had a cubicle layout. Sometimes he took me inside, and it was just terrible. This was also one of the themes of Office Space, an excellent movie making fun of workplace culture (starring Jennifer Aniston and Ron Livingston). In one memorable scene of the movie, after Livingston's character has had enough of the toxic workplace culture and stops giving a fuck, he unscrews the cubicle walls so he can see out the window from his desk.
I would definitely prefer to work in an open-office environment vs cubicles. I also don't want an office, because I don't even want to go to work regularly anymore.
The best option for me would be: (i) go to work 2-3 times a week to get out of the house (ii) hot desk open office layout with (iii) lots of meeting rooms.
> The only exceptions are when the office environment is truly terrible.
Given that the trend is to open floor plans with limited personal space, I suspect that "truly terrible" is a fair--if not flat out generous--description of a lot of office space.
The spaces where you're actually supposed to work are so hostile to productive work anyway - loud, public, and if you're not by a window or at least only one tier in from one, dark.
Oh, such a wonderful working environment. To have the privacy and isolation from distractions and interruptions that a cubicle gives. What I wouldn't give to work in such a great office space.
I'm sitting here in one of these "cool startup" offices right now. I absolutely hate it. No place to stack anything, no walls to hang whiteboards, calendars, pictures. No DOOR to close when I just want to get something done.
I have noise everywhere that headphones can't drown out. I have people tapping me on the back constantly because, apparently, having headphones on isn't a big enough signal that I'm trying to shut out the world. Yeah yeah, I know, sit people down and tell them. People forget. Just give me a door I can LOCK and that will work just fine.
I'm a few hours away from commandeering an unused storage room and making it the new Software Lab.
2. AWFUL OFFICE SPACE - My worst was a 3m² chamber without windows and a few woodplanks. I love to have my own space, without people talking a few times a day. But I would never ever work under such conditions...
3. NO SELF-DEVELOPMENT - I do this myself gladly, but I want the time to do it and not eating up my holidays for it.
This is what I've observed in my open office workspace. It's really counterproductive, and a big reason (I believe), why so many employees work from home much of the time. Then again, for most places the alternative is a cubicle farm which isn't any better in my book. Man, nothing makes you feel like a drone like working in a cubicle.
Funny how we keep inventing more terrible ways to work. I remember when walled cubicles were seen as hopeless, dreary work existence compared to those nice private offices. No way it could be worse than cubicles! Then wall-less cubicles were invented and there was no way it could be worse than that. Then we moved to the open-office hell where we had to work in an environment similar to a Wall Street trading pit, and surely at that point, we hit rock bottom. Now we have hot-desking where you don't even get your own seat. I'm sure this is the worst possible way to work that will ever be invited....
Imagine working in an open office space the size of a Sears floor. That's what I see every time one of my Racker friends posts up a picture of their workspace. Ugh.
... Or not. Make it an open office space, with people taking around you. Then you'll get the worst possible.
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