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Ask HN: What companies give every engineer a private office?

4 points by conroy ↗ HN
Or all their employees? The only one I know is FogCreek.

If your company does this, do you mind answering a few questions in the comments?

- How big is your company?

- What's the best part about having individual offices?

- How about the worst?

- Would you work at a company that didn't have offices?

7 comments

[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 29.0 ms ] thread
vfarcic
I think that private offices are a bad thing in many cases. Having everyone together in an open space increases communication and results in much less time spent trying to figure out what's going on or should be done.
Klockan
I don't agree, having all engineers in the same room is akin to having only global variables in your code.
Perdition
That sounds like a crutch for a malfunctioning team and bad management.

I find it incredibly ironic how many software companies apparently don't believe in the power or usefulness of Information Technology.

BorisMelnik
> power or usefulness of Information Technology.

in what regard? communication?

proveanegative
>Having everyone together in an open space increases communication

That it does, but often at the price of productivity. There is a line dividing productive communication and pointless distraction and the more people you put in one room the more often you cross it.

giaour
As someone who works in an open office, I often find communication so open that I have to take my laptop into a conference room to get any work done.
SlipperySlope
Should my company grow to the point of requiring office space, I would have private offices for everyone.

My first programming job back in 1974 had fully enclosed private offices with opaque doors and reasonable soundproofing.

In later years, in non-supervisory roles, I was occasionally put in shared offices, or worse - cubicles.

Productivity is highest without distractions and without interruptions. Communication is the responsibility of management - not the side effect of cheap open space.