Joel Spolsky on Open Offices

If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know my feelings about open offices: despite the self-serving cant from management, they’re really about saving money. Everyone who does creative work knows how devastating the constant interruptions can be on productivity and focus.

Joel Spolsky—whose company, Fog Creek Software, is famous for providing developers with private offices—has a few words to say about this and the effect Facebook’s infamous 8-acre open office has on productivity. He makes a point that is often not appreciated by management imagining that they will save money by having an open office. Spolsky says that Facebook is paying its engineers 40–50 percent more than other companies and that is usually an indication that people don’t want to work there.

Of course they don’t. Who would? Facebook is doing interesting work and solving serious problems so you’d think it would be a great place to work. That is until they show you your 8-acre office shared by every other engineer in the company. Facebook can talk all it wants about synergy and communication but the fact is no one wants to work in conditions that would make the food court at a typical mall seem appealing. So they don’t. At least not until you bribe them with a salary 50% above normal.

Be sure to read the comments too. Open offices don’t have very many supporters among those who have to work in them.

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