RE: The perfect work space
Being a worker bee, I prefer cubicles to an open space. "Open plan" workspaces are nothing but the classic "Bull Pen" revisited. I consider that type of workspace the most dehumanizing, unproductive hunting ground for micro-managing idiots. It sceams that "You are an insignificant cog in our machine". I have an idiot in the next cube over that constantly uses his speaker phone. If I had to sit next to him in a bull pen, I would have committed murder by now.
Cubes are not a panacea, but they provide a modicum of privacy and a hint of sound isolation, as well as some protection from conversation bullies.
When I work with my counterparts in Software, we move to a laboratory space where we can work with the hardware and collaborate when we need to, and then we return to our cubes to do the portion of our work that requires individual contemplation.
