Comments

The cubicle is the anti-collaborant (is that a new phrase?). The bad news is that it replaced the open "bullpen" in most office environments. The bullpen (desk-to-desk as far as the eye can see) was even more despised for lack of privacy and interruptions.

The bullpen was the ultimate sales office though! With one look out of his office, the sales manager could yell, "what are you doing in the office?".

Posted by Jeff at March 21, 2006 7:02 PM

My initial reaction was to say that the cubicle goes beyond anti-collaborant: it's anti-communication in the way it isolates you from colleagues and day-to-day human inter-action. But then doesn't an individual office do that, too? It might be the C-suite or a bunch of clerks in little offices along a corridor, but it's a similar thing.

Isn't the real issue the way we manage and treat people? Sure, space saving and call-centres that tie you to a desk are part of it. But isn't the bigger picture to do with whether we give people interesting jobs, seek and follow-up on their input to the job, build the team, reward the ones who step up to the plate etc? In other words, leadership?

If you put people into cubicles and manage them like battery hens, they'll probably feel and work like battery hens. But if you put them in decent cubicles and treat them like people, I suspect most of them don't see the cubicle as such an issue.

Posted by Mark J Foscoe at March 22, 2006 4:12 AM

It's too easy to say that cubicles are counter-social or counter-collaborative. Do we want work places to be social? Does an open space truly inspire a collaborative spirit?

When I was a young boy, I dreamed of having a swank corner office in a Manhattan high-rise. Something that I could decorate with warm, personal touches and inspirational icons. Things that, when glancing at them, boosted my esteem and confidence. Subliminal messages sent from the history of my lacrosse stick - perform at your best, play hard in the mud, etc. Of course, when it was time for me to enter the working world, offices were taboo and open plan spaces were becomming the norm. No walls to hide behind, etc.

I don't necessarily care for open space offices. I find them distracting, messy and unbalanced - and imagine that feng shui experts would have some things to say about the cloud of conflicting energies that hoover above such spaces. We had cubicles in the Air Force, and I actually liked settling in to mine each morning. I felt organized, kept it extremely neat and managed some super high performance from within it. One of the 12 Outstanding Airmen in the US Air Force from behind a cubicle! When I neeeded input from a team member, I visited their cubicle (home) and enjoyed their space for that time. The uniqueness of each space was inspirational to me.

Performance is the indicator that must be analyzed in the end, in any environment. At the moment, I work from home or remotely, dropping into the main office on occassion to touch base physically with the team there.

Now, I don't like the fabric, texture or look of most cubicles - but I think that the concept of personal creative/performance space is not such a bad one. And if telephones are used on the office floor, isn't it simply annoying in an open space?

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 22, 2006 8:30 AM

Luckily I can freely career-at-home - however I love to go into the local office - 3 girly women & me in an open room - because of the energy and vibe - water and mountain views w/fun restaurants / Starbucks / Wal$Mart / Co$tco close.

Posted by Sean at March 22, 2006 9:17 AM

Sean's example brings up a valid point. Obviously, a cubicle set-up would be somewhat ridiculous in a small office. Then, I've been in small offices where partitions were used to define different spaces on the floor. Banks do this to preserve privacy.

I love having the flexibility to work from home, a hotel, the office, etc. I'm somewhat surprised that tele-working hasn't been more widely implemented. Imagine the overheads that could be cut not maintaining a massive office (utilities, lease, etc.) Performance based rather than presence based models of work. Decentralized activity focused on a central vision. Technology (online whiteboards, Skype, project management tools) makes this so possible. No commute stress, flexibility for busy families, etc.

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 22, 2006 9:43 AM

By the way, did you see my new website Sean! That is my Bellingham business! Can take it with me when I go! Funny to think that I'll be running it from Bellingham in 6 weeks time! yee-ha!

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 22, 2006 9:47 AM

I tend to agree with Tom and Mark in that I believe management style has more of an immpact on the office environment than the furniture.

Over the years I've worked in offices, out of hotels, in classrooms and, briefly, walking through cotton fields. Today I'm working from an intimate locally-owned coffee shop around the corner from my house.

The physical environment makes less of an impact on my productivity than the mental invironment created by the leadership style of those on higher rungs of the ladder.

But I have to admit...as far as physical environments go I'd rather be here in the coffee shop than stuck in a gray cubicle farm somewhere.

Posted by Danny at March 22, 2006 10:01 AM

I think a point that this discussion and the Fortune article makes, is that great design can be used in ways that destroys it's intent. I must admit a bias here. Herman Miller is a long term client, and quite frankly, I love em! They come closer than most to living to the ideals we here in tom land expound. Design is one of those areas. Designers at HMI do not design furniture, they design great places to work, heal, live and learn. That is an important distinction. The Action Office was not designed to maximize butts per square foot...it was designed based on Bob Propst's vision of how people worked together. Go to Herman Miller's website and check out some of their research on the future of how people will work and the design elements that follow naturally. I wonder how many other designs are out there that are being used counter to their intent? I love the line in the Fortune article "But inventions seldom obey the creator's intent".

Posted by mike neiss at March 22, 2006 10:21 AM

As my workplace has grown, I have moved from office to cubicle. As far as I can can tell the benefit and drawback to the cubicle is increased communication.
It's a benefit in that it is very easy to drop in on someone and have a chat and I've gained some very good information just by sitting at my desk and listening to the world around me.
That is also the downside. I can be working away and hear something over the wall and lose my conentration. People have no problem walking up to the opening of the cube and starting a conversation. If I am doing heads-down work, I keep a lot of information in my "short-term memory." When my concentration is broken it usually takes a good 10 minutes to get back up to speed. That happens about the time of the next interruption. This makes it very difficult to get into a groove. It's actually easier for me to work on an airplane.

Posted by Buz Dale at March 22, 2006 10:31 AM

Tom O' - where is your website - I'll search for it - so reads like 6 weeks to spring in B'Ham?

The office we're in is 150 of us just 4 in our corner - and we modified the cubes for open look/feel - and Yahoo! is moving in 1/4 mi. from us so that should be fun to compare notes w them - see if they are in cubes v open.

Posted by Sean at March 22, 2006 10:51 AM

Found it - cool - http://messagingtimes.blogspot.com/

Posted by Sean at March 22, 2006 10:54 AM

No, that's the old one Sean. It's now at http://www.messagingtimes.com

The mothership that will sail into Bellingham this spring!

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 22, 2006 11:00 AM

I echo Mike's call for dramatic design. Often, when we think 'cubicle', images of felt boards from the 1980s come to mind. Cubicle design has come a long way since then - and it should go even further.

I like the idea that Sean's team has. Create team enviornments rather than individual cacoons. Small creative/performance spaces that people who regularly bounce off of each other can reside. Good cubicle design should certainly allow for adaptation and flexibility. Perhaps have the walls of the cubicles be whiteboards that can be drawn on, erased, etc.

Make them part of a functional space, rather than a seperator between functional performers!

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 22, 2006 11:07 AM

But, why aren't we teleworking more? Let's come together with the team regularly, but get the day-to-day job done without tying up the friggin' highways and biways of the world at 7-9am and 5-7pm.

Why is it so difficult to shift the paradigm of the 9-5 corporate dance floor model?

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 22, 2006 11:10 AM

Because, Tom, Corporate leaders too often view people as assets to be managed rather than people to be led. The fear is, according to people I've talked to about this, that if people are not on-site, they can not be controlled.

And control it usually the real issue when you boil it all down. They don't trust they're subordinates to get the job done unsupervised and don't want to give them the authority to make decisions for themselves.

Posted by Danny at March 22, 2006 11:21 AM

wow...I apologize for the typos there.

Posted by Danny at March 22, 2006 11:24 AM

I understand that Danny, but remote working has been proven to be successful, because it boils down to performance. People either perform or they don't. Looking busy doesn't cut it anymore. Remote workers must show their worth through contribution (i.e. files sent, milestones met, etc.) And if those leaders are TRULY interested in getting their 'assets' to be productively accountable, performance will be a much better measuring stick than a supervisory report written by their Friday evening drinking buddy.

I imagine that there might be insurance issues, security issues, etc. though that may hamper real telework efforts.

There were concerted efforts here in Europe to create some flexibility in the workplace. Flexi-hours, etc. France tried to introduce the 4-day work week years ago; never heard much about it since.

We have a hard time turning things around, even if they don't make sense. Summer holidays from school in the US began when children were needed to work the farms during those months. We continue with it today, not for practical reasons, but because it's just too big a change for anyone to put their butt on the line for.

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 22, 2006 11:37 AM

Danny is spot on: it's about perceived control and trust. I used to work for a company that was about to lose it's star IT guy just as our old legacy system was about to go unmaintained and the new SAP project was delayed. For family reasons, he really needed to move about 150 miles away from the office. This was a real old style "command and control" company and despite the above - where this guy was a key player - the Head of IT avowedly preferred to lose him than manage him remotely. It was only when I said I'd offer him a job on my staff that people really started to think that maybe it was a runner. I've left but I know the guy is still there and still doing a top job.

Posted by Mark JF at March 22, 2006 11:44 AM

I understand Tom. And I am working remotely in an entirely different city 90 miles from my office, so I know how great it can be.

I don't have a justification for the inability to shift...but having been in more rigid organizations, I was just giving the reasons that were given to me when I pushed for change.

Working in marketing and advertising, there are companies making a concerted push in this direction, going so far as to create essentially virtual agencies. A core group runs a small office, while everyone else works remotely, sometimes on the other side of the country (this is not true of the agency I work for...I am an exception here, not the rule).

They are capitalizing on the same ideas already mentioned: namely, seriously reducing overhead expenses. They also tend to have very high employee retention due in part to being flexible not only in scheduling, but location. Imagine if someone seeking a job could work for a company across the country without having to uproot home and family!

The fact that it is proven doesn't make it easier for many people to accept change. I've come to believe that we don't make decisions based on logic. Humans make emotional decisions, then use facts to rationalize those decisions.

With schools, as you mentioned, for example: studies have shown that the three-month summer vacation is exceedingly detrimental to the retention of knowledge. But since many parents' fondest memories are of playing during summer vacation, they don't want to deprive their children of the same pleasure. Year-round schooling tends to meet with resistance wherever it is introduced.

Until we can come up with an emotional spur that is stronger than the comfort of business-as-usual, getting companies to open up to telecommuting will continue to be an uphill battle.

Posted by Danny at March 22, 2006 12:12 PM

Opinions about management control freaks aside, the facts are that there are a limited number of jobs that can be performed regularly by remote networking. Hard as it is for many to realize, there are many other jobs besides net designer, code writer, software developer, and professional blogger.

There are still a lot of people in jobs that are ripe for remote work that don't have the adequate home situation to allow them to stay at home and work. And, despite what TV commercials show, it is pretty difficult to work in a Starbucks-type locale.

Try not to jump on management as just a bunch of dinosaur control freaks as your knee-jerk response to everything that isn't set up the way you think it ought to be.

Posted by Mike at March 22, 2006 1:43 PM

Escaping to Exurbia - USAToday just had a big article on the growth of mega suburb / exurbs - telework escape the cubicle to Exurbia Land!

Posted by Sean at March 22, 2006 1:59 PM

My office is the front room and it works. Now that I work freelance from home after a 35 year corporate career – complete with office - I realise just how pretentious and unnecessary it is to ‘own’ your office space. The status thing of having your own office now seems very old hat to me. Since I have worked from home I realise just how status driven most organisations are about such things as office space. The myth about needing privacy and your own office space is just that - a myth.

Posted by Trevor at March 22, 2006 2:29 PM

The only problem I have with not working in an office 9-5 anymore is that I end up working much more! The truth is, I don't mind at all, because I love what I do. It's 2:30am now, and I got out of bed because there were a few bits and pieces I wanted to do. My wife doesn't mind, because I'm equally prepared to take a few minutes away from the laptop in the morning or afternoon if she needs me to watch the kids for a while when she steps out for something. It's a win-win situation for work/family balance. Everybody gets more!

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 22, 2006 9:39 PM

Hi All,

Did you know that Scott Adams approached IDEO to create Dilbert's Ultimate Cubicle in an attempt to address the myriad issues connected with partition-based offices??? The result is a modular cubicle that allows each worker to select the components and create a space based on his or her tastes and lifestyle...to know more click on link http://www.ideo.com/dilbert/

Posted by K.Sriram at March 22, 2006 10:18 PM

That is pretty cool K.Sriram! I wonder if they have a beer cooler module? Such customization might just change some attitudes about cubicle life!

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 22, 2006 11:48 PM

I agree Tom. Here is something I put on my own Blog a while ago about the difference between working for myself from home versus working in the National Health Service. From what you say I am sure you will relate to some of these points too say :-)

Just over a year ago I decided to leave a massive organisation – the National Health Service which is the third largest employer in the world after the Chinese Army and Indian Railways. Here are just a few unstructured random thoughts about the differences I have noticed between working for the NHS – and working for myself.

*I used to have a boss – now I am the boss
*I used to believe I was accountable – now I am accountable – If I don’t work, I don’t eat
*I used to have appraisal meetings with my boss – now I just look in the mirror and ask the person I see – ‘did you try hard enough Trevor?’
*I used to work in an office – now our front room is the office – budgies, music and all
*I used to work the hours the organisation expected of me – now I work when I want
*I used to frown a lot – now I smile a lot
*I used to dress within organisational requirements – now I may not shave for three days
*I used to work through lunchtimes – now I might take a three hour break with Annie to go to the gym in the middle of the day and we both might then work till midnight
*I used to have a Finance department – now I am the Finance department. I used to have a Human Resources Department – now I am the HR department. I used to have a Complaints Department – now I am the Complaints Department. You get the picture, etc., etc.
*I used to sit on groups and committees – now I wonder why we needed them
*I used to regularly feel negative stress – now I am always excited about possibilities
*I used to believe I took risks – now I try something new almost every day
*I used to feel controlled – now I feel free
*I used to feel there were things I could not say – now I say what I like
*I used to think there was a place for planning – now I realise John Lennon was right “Life is what happens while we are busy making other plans" – well said Mr Lennon
*I used to get angry and frustrated – now I know I control my own destiny
*I used to think I might be in the wrong place – now I know I was in the wrong place
*I used to be sad quite often at work – now I am happy
*And finally, but most importantly - I used to be not in love – now I am in love.

Posted by Trevor at March 23, 2006 2:42 AM

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Amen Trevor! I do relate to many of them. But I still have a boss, who is Web 2.0 cool/innovative/risk taker/fair player/invested/generous etc.

Posted by Tom O'Leary at March 23, 2006 8:38 AM

Trevor - and remember too for you:
*I used to have a regular paycheck and healthcare - now I scramble to fake it and make it! :>} ... alas it is worth it ...

Posted by Sean at March 23, 2006 9:31 AM