Open spaces are not the root of all evil
Many people claim open space offices are destructing productivity and company outcomes. Some people go as far as calling it the worst idea in the history of people management.
To investigate if this is true or not, let’s start with the basics.
What is the outcome we want to achieve? What is a successful team? What environment is required to excel?
As Robert Bruce Shaw described in his book “Extreme Teams”, team success is achieved in a dynamic ping pong between results (performing) and relationship (bonding).
So, what does this have to do with open-space?
This is a hint that different types of activities require different environments.
Open-space is not evil, but it becomes problematic if all types of activities happen inside of it. Usually, environments that promote relationships are not good for results and vice-versa.
Open space is not a perfect environment for focus and deep work.
Here is a short map of optimal environments for different jobs to be done.
The above is a simplification, and you can go crazy designing the perfect environment for a specific activity. The map might be much longer than above.
But wait. Is open space really good for bonding?
A study by Harvard Business School in 2018 determined that an open office reduced face-to-face interactions by 70%. Other studies found that 90% of people working in an open office had higher levels of stress.
Again, that might just be people trying to do focused and deep work in the wrong environment, so they start avoiding other people to get things done.
A good team understands that both performing and bonding are required for team success. The solution is not to kill the open space, but to augment it.
Design a space that has open spaces, team offices, and isolated spaces to support different types of activities performed by your team at different times during the day
And yes, remote work is a good way to give people the opportunities to isolate if you can’t afford to have small isolation chambers in your office.
Remote-only teams can still use these ideas to design the perfect system by combining different tools and systems to collaborate in an optimal way, by mapping out activities and virtual environments. e.g. using Slack all day is the equivalent of a virtual open office, which is sub-optimal for deep work.
If you have enough money and you want to go crazy on the ideas described in this article, build an Eudaimonia machine, which is an office space designed to support different activities and to funnel people through the right space for the right activity.