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Hot take: My old boss was right about open floor plans
Ran into my ex-manager Gary at a coffee shop and he admitted loud offices suck, but said open layouts actually helped him catch problems early before they blew up. Made me realize maybe I was too quick to blame the setup instead of the guy who blasted music at his desk.
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jamiegreen9d ago
Makes sense that Gary would say that, but I still think open floor plans are mostly a mess. You can catch problems early, sure, but that only works if nobody has headphones in and everyone actually pays attention. In my experience, most people just get interrupted nonstop and lose focus on their actual work. The guy blasting music was a separate issue, but the layout itself made it worse for everyone else trying to tune him out. Catching problems early is nice, but it doesn't help when you can't think straight for more than ten minutes at a time. Maybe Gary was just a decent manager who made the best of a bad setup.
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