Does anyone like to work in open space?

Question

I've never worked in open space office. I've had a home office, I've shared office with 2 to 5 other people but I've never worked at open space office.Mostly I've listen about bad sides of open space. Are there any good sides? Did covid situation change the open space? Do they still exist?

cosheaf · Accepted Answer

If you write software then you need extended periods of focus. This is not possible in an open office. Open offices were designed to save money on building costs and then sold to office workers as better ways to collaborate (which turned out to be false).

12ian34 · Answer

I've worked in: small offices of ~6, medium offices of ~15, open spaces of ~30 and one open space of ~400. Small office of ~6 is my favourite by far. I really didn't enjoy the 400 person office floor. But, there were some minor positives:
- Easy to see if someone is at their desk
- Easy to go and talk to them
- Easy to hear potentially useful context-sharing conversations in the vicinity.
Of course, each of these positives can come with disadvantages.
I haven't worked there for 5 years but I know that Covid shifted many of them home for the lockdowns. Now they are back to the office, which hasn't really changed other than there being around 60% of the people in that same big room on any given day.

outsomnia · Answer

I thought you meant open space like a forest picnic table or something.
Pre-Covid, open-plan could be OK in small doses if you get there very early, and find a spot far enough away from others. Noise-cancelling headphones are good too. They are just like cattle pens but if you have your own little corner it is bearable.
The worst thing is people go to the office to shit in the toilets in the morning, amazing and horrifying. So life is better if you scope out a toilet few people use.