Until a couple of days ago Office Space was a film I hadn't seen. I was prompted to watch it once too often, and a need to understand cubicles drove me. I'm very glad I did.
Until I entered discussions* at Agile 2007 I had never really focussed on cubicles. They mean nothing to me, are something I haven't seen anywhere I have worked. They were some comic creation that no-one really has in any quantity.
I was astounded to find that apparently they are ubiquitous in the US - anything else is rare. Until I realised this I had no understanding that some of my talk had been mispitched, as I had expected everyone in the room to have some concept of what an open plan office looks like.
Thankfully I had the chance to help model alternatives.
Am I spoiled that my concerns revolve around how open an open plan office should get for optimal communication? Very probably.
I am grateful that I have so soundly missed working with them, and now I fear to see them everywhere.
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* Both at my open workspaces talk and at the designing collaborative workspaces session.
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