I really hope that my son doesn't end up stuck in open-plan offices when he starts working. In fact, they should probably be outlawed as inherently non-inclusive, because it's pretty clear the market will never fix them because the majority of people don't hate them enough to change jobs because of them. Also because in tech private offices are a rarity.

I guess another option would be to get ADHD classified as a disability (assuming it's not already in California) and start demanding offices as accommodations, until companies start giving them to everyone just like many companies (Facebook, Roblox, NOT Google anymore) do with sit/stand desks.

@freakazoid yeah I can definitely relate. I'm on the autism spectrum, and have severe difficulty focusing under lots of background noise. Open planned offices are evil.

@freakazoid In my last job, I went from a semi-private cube to an entirely open floorplan. My productivity tanked, instantly. I'm good at what I do, as long as I am given the space to focus. Open floorplans are actively hos
ile to employees.

@ajroach42 I'm hoping that once I'm no longer near the incubator folks (who really SHOULD be talking to one another) it'll be better.

@freakazoid When Microsoft was dominant, they partly ascribed it to giving every worker an office with a door and the social ability to close it. Even temps! Concentration is scarce and valuable and they didn't want to fracture it.

@clew Yeah that was the thing that most struck me about Microsoft's Silicon Valley campus. Everyone had offices, which was something I more associated with "old guard" IBM.

@freakazoid Well, maybe it will be a measurable competitive advantage and spread???

My dad worked for a Japanese firm for a while and was originally horrified by the completely open office. But the local manners were completely respectful of concentration -- if a coworker was sitting quietly with closed eyes, he says, you didn't interrupt because it was taken as a sign of deep concentration.

@clew If it spreads I suspect it will spread outside Silicon Valley due to the tremendous cost of real estate here. And it's not just the dollar cost; local governments here are actively hostile to development. So for example Google would have no hope of doing it. A startup could depending on how it was funded and what its funders demand/allow.

My guess is that in the early stages open plan offices are probably an advantage. I think it falls into the same category as inclusion.

@clew It could be a good way to attract people away from Silicon Valley. Folks are leaving in droves, but unless I'm mistaken that's primarily being driven by stuff like traffic and the cost of living relative to pay, not by working conditions.