A few weeks ago I read an article on open floor plans by Rick Smith. Working in a large room, with a lot of other people is not an efficient way to be productive. At least if you need to concentrate.
The question arises why this is still common practice. Is it because it’s hard to quantify the amount of money saved when comparing hourly wages of a developer to the cost of a few walls?
On a side note:
Sub par work conditions are also quite demotivating. Because every minute spent waiting for the machine from 1980 to finish the build, let’s an employee wonder if you even give a …