Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Office Design Humbug

Four design firms planned the perfect office and they liked a lot of glass.

Spare me. There are times when I want to hide away in my office and not in some conference room. The idea that the leader always has to be seen in order to foster a climate of openness and trust is absurd. Some of the biggest weasels I've ever known were open door/MBWA fanatics.

Plus, having a bunch of people walking by is distracting.

If you want an open office, have one. If not, have the opposite.

4 comments:

Bob said...

Yes but that is the Office you SHOULD have as they are designed by the experts, and you should be HAPPY since experts must know what makes you happy, if you are not happy maybe you should have therapy...

Michael Wade said...

Bob,

How could I have missed the point that they always know better?

Michael

Jeff said...

Actually, the trend that I've been seeing here in New York are open office plans, no offices. In one majaor advertising agency I last visited, the new space they moved in had long counters where working spaces were separated by inconsequential risers. Not even a cubicle to be found. There was absolutely no privacy and no way to remove yourself from distraction.


The only enclosed spaces were for top management (on another floor separate from the "drones") and what they call "bubbles" which were isolated conference rooms.

No one was happy in this environment. But I'm sure they were designed by "experts"..

- Jeff

Michael Wade said...

Jeff,

I recall some office experts wanting to go to an open space environment in an office I supervised. We had to explain to them that since we investigated discrimination cases, complainants and witnesses might not appreciate the lack of privacy.

They backed off but not until they tried the old "Can't you just use a conference room?" ploy.

Michael