Easier? For them? Or you? A perennial argument for open floor plans is that it 'fosters open dialogue' and other such twaddle. For someone to be standing 6 feet from you and be told it'd "easier" to go back to their desk and send you an email instead of just talking to you is ... counter-intuitive at the very least. Unbelievable to some.
It depends. When someone is stuck on a compiling issue, pinging me on our chat/IRC is clearly easier than speaking loudly and hoping I'll hear and help. But at the same time, being able to hear other people discussions and chose when I think I'd be able to help is awesome. It also helps me learn a lot just by hearing other people technical issues.
Also open floorplan does not mean "just 8 members of your team" in the same place. Where I was before it meant 120 developers working on different project for the company but in the same place. An issue with this is that people outside of the developer teams would just pop over to my desk because I was the one that seemed available to ask for things. This can be annoying if it happens 10 times a day especially when none of the questions have anything to do with you. Explaining them that sending an email with questions would help worked most of the time and forced them to try and contact the right person instead of asking the developer closest to the door especially at lunch time.
If this is actually the case, you're in the minority. After doing this for... 19(?) years, few developers I've met or worked with are actually more productive in open environments
That may well be true. I've worked this way for 8 years now and clearly enjoy a lot more open floorplans especially when it is "developers-friendly" so no sales team next to you using the phone all day.
I'm in favor of private work spaces and open common areas where people can meet to collaborate when they want.
The issue with this is that I then lose the ability to follow what other people are working/stuck on and whether I can help, etc. Because people will most of the time stay in quiet area and use the open spaces only for informal gathering, having fun, or even meetings when no rooms are available.
It depends. When someone is stuck on a compiling issue, pinging me on our chat/IRC is clearly easier than speaking loudly and hoping I'll hear and help. But at the same time, being able to hear other people discussions and chose when I think I'd be able to help is awesome. It also helps me learn a lot just by hearing other people technical issues.
Also open floorplan does not mean "just 8 members of your team" in the same place. Where I was before it meant 120 developers working on different project for the company but in the same place. An issue with this is that people outside of the developer teams would just pop over to my desk because I was the one that seemed available to ask for things. This can be annoying if it happens 10 times a day especially when none of the questions have anything to do with you. Explaining them that sending an email with questions would help worked most of the time and forced them to try and contact the right person instead of asking the developer closest to the door especially at lunch time.
If this is actually the case, you're in the minority. After doing this for... 19(?) years, few developers I've met or worked with are actually more productive in open environments
That may well be true. I've worked this way for 8 years now and clearly enjoy a lot more open floorplans especially when it is "developers-friendly" so no sales team next to you using the phone all day.
I'm in favor of private work spaces and open common areas where people can meet to collaborate when they want.
The issue with this is that I then lose the ability to follow what other people are working/stuck on and whether I can help, etc. Because people will most of the time stay in quiet area and use the open spaces only for informal gathering, having fun, or even meetings when no rooms are available.