[beb]

The problem is that creativity takes time and usually a quiet environment. I used to work at home. I loved working at home.

I have an office at work now. It's a really nice office. I'm even lucky enough to have a DP G4 with a ACD at work. So I really shouldn't complain.

I sympathize with those who work for cubicle companies and the like. I don't see how those folks can even think. No wonder most American businesses fail. It's the work environment stupid. If your a manager that crams their employees together like sardines -then that is the mentality you should expect. In truth, it's not entirely the manager's fault either.

I dunno. Maybe there are just too many people on the planet. Lose a billion here or there -who would really notice?

[beb]

I was offended by your last comment beb. Lose a billion here, lose a billion there. These are people dammit.

[beb]

I was just kidding. Jinkies.

[beb]

If I'm not careful, I'll end up talking to myself.

[beb]

What about me? Don't I matter to you at all?

[beb]

No. Not really.

[driven]

No ... not the clear Mac cube ... I hate the cube that I work in.

You can be in a deep thought trying to solve a problem when someone walks in, sits down and starts yapping about something. Then you have to ask them to repeat it while your mind does a context switch. Then you waste time trying to get back into your mind-set for work again. (At least the phone I can unplug!)

If you are eating food at your desk (lunch) forget about it. Someone comes in an starts yapping. By the time you send them off in search of a clue your food is cold.

Then there is the problem with e-mail. You send a co-worker an e-mail with a question. What do they do? Walk down to your cube sit down and spend an hour chattering about something they could have said in two lines of an e-mail. What the heck did I send an e-mail for? Did it say "You are hereby invited to visit my cube?" I think not.

Sorry I sound so bitter. I'm getting to the point where I get more work done at home at night than I do here.

How much better life would be if my cube had one of these:

[Justin W. Williams]

Go down to the hardware store, and buy a door, a hinge, and put that sumbitch together. Do it Office Space style

Personally, I have never had a cubicle. My old desk job stuck me in the server room, but at least i had a door. The noise was deafening though.

[gumby5647]

man, i thought you were talking about your computer.....

[dillerX]

I think the whole problem here is people. People are the cause of your misery. A door won't stop a stupid person from walking in.

Start doing what I do with all the fools I meet. Start catagorizing them. I have a theory, Everyone in the world falls into one of the catagories.

1. Mistake
2. Incompetence
3. Stupidity
4. Idiocy
5. Dysfunction
6. Cluelessness

For definitions of these catagories, I went to despair.com.

I have these posted on my wall, and when I meet someone who irks me, I "classify" them and feel much better.

ps. I fall into the dysfunction catagory.

[Nonsuch]

Cubicles give us low-level emps something to aspire to: an office with a door. Consider it part of the incentive program.

[edited for spelling]

[ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: Nonsuch ]

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

I swore I would never work at a place that had Cublicles. Never have, never will.

[Sosa]

I agree that cubes can be unpleasant. My current company has desks with low walls separting them so that everyone can see and talk to each other. while this makes the environment rather noisy, it is also a more social atmosphere.

I myself have a good quality wooden desk in the top floor of a new building in downtown Miami. The view is beautiful, especially at night. I only wish I could use a Mac rather than this Compaq (hard drive has failed twice, IT says they are cheap and have a high failure rate). About the only nice thing about my office setup (besides the desk and the view) is the 17" Trinitron CRT. It seems of good quality to me, I'm running it at 1152 by 864 pixels, true color, 75 mhz refresh. That's not bad right? Hey, how did I come off the post's topic?

[RAzaRazor]

This is kind of a funny topic for me.
Today I am moving from my old office to my new office with a window! I am so psyched to get some natural light!!

</gloat>

Cubes suck. Luckily, I have only had to work in one once for a few months. I got funny looks from passerbys because I had taken apart the walls, rearranged the desktop and cabinets and took over the empty cube next to me and made the whole thing a double with a little tiny gap to get in and out.

[driven]

Originally posted by gumby5647:
<STRONG>man, i thought you were talking about your computer.....</STRONG>

Heavens no! That Cube is awesome! (But I can't sit in it.)

[driven]

Originally posted by dillerX:
<STRONG>I think the whole problem here is people. People are the cause of your misery. A door won't stop a stupid person from walking in.

Start doing what I do with all the fools I meet. Start catagorizing them. I have a theory, Everyone in the world falls into one of the catagories.

1. Mistake
2. Incompetence
3. Stupidity
4. Idiocy
5. Dysfunction
6. Cluelessness

For definitions of these catagories, I went to despair.com.

I have these posted on my wall, and when I meet someone who irks me, I "classify" them and feel much better.

ps. I fall into the dysfunction catagory. </STRONG>

I like this ... and I LOVE this web-site. Thanks!

[driven]

Originally posted by Nonsuch:
<STRONG>Cubicles give us low-level emps something to aspire to: an office with a door. Consider it part of the incentive program.

[edited for spelling]

[ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: Nonsuch ]</STRONG>

Well, since even our president resides in a cube (a double-wide!) I have nothing to aspire too.

[Bockie]

Originally posted by RAzaRazor:
<STRONG>This is kind of a funny topic for me.
Today I am moving from my old office to my new office with a window! I am so psyched to get some natural light!!

&lt;/gloat&gt;</STRONG>

Boo! Hiss! You window-with-a-view people make me sick. I guess I will have to survive with my 10x15 office in the central part of the building.

[agentz]

Originally posted by dillerX:
<STRONG> A door won't stop a stupid person from walking in.</STRONG>

I couldn't agree more with this.

For me, this has been one hellish week. I do sysadmin on one of our mail systems (approx 31,000 users), keep an eye on our Helldesk systems, chase suppliers and the like, and I swear to god, doors do not help when I've constantly got like 25 open email problems to deal with, really really annoying (supposedly senior) colleagues coming in and out asking stoopid questions, and like on Tuesday my phone rang 53 times (I know this, I counted). And our Comms team have been installing a new firewall to replace our tired-ass Sun box, so thats increased my workload drastically.

I thought things would be a lot better when I moved from a shared office (6 staff) to a shared office (me and one other guy who's hardly ever in the office). But nooooo.

Dude, get yourself an office with a door with a damn-ass lock on it, a telephone you can unplug, and someone to lie and tell people who are looking for you that you're not in.

[ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: agentz ]

[--Helen--]

Shut up beb nobody likes you anyway.

[ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: --Helen-- ]

[seanyepez]

Originally posted by --Helen--:
<STRONG>Shut up beb nobody likes you anyway.

[ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: --Helen-- ]</STRONG>

Someone's having a bad day...

[G4ME]

Driven what ever you do, don't by all means let them steal your stapler.

(beb nice fear and loathing sig great movie awsome sound track)

[MikeM32]

Actually sometimes I wish I could work in a place that has cubicles. The best job I had was my last one until I shifted to the day shift. Why was it so great? Because there was only like 3 people on my shift and no "management" as opposed to the 100 + people on day shift and all the management, "wanna-be" management, and "orafice" politics ad-nauseum. There were no cubicles, but the much smaller number of co-workers made the night shift a much more "sane" working environment. Once I went to day shift I almost literally went nuts from all the bullshit, so I quit.

I've come to the realization that I get more done when I'm not distracted by management "types". As far as management goes, just tell me what needs to be done and leave me alone to do it. As driven mentionned, I guess even being in a cubicle doesn't guarantee any privacy. I've come to realize I function better when I'm not inundated by O.P.P. (other peoples problems), mainly managements. Sometimes I just feel like telling "the boss" "Sure, just keep on asking me when it's going to be done because I'm soooo much more productive when you distract me every 5 minutes"

Blah, I'll probably never be happy until I'm working freelance, given a private office, or possibly "telecommuting". From having worked with and still working with certain kinds of people &lt;cough-assholes-cough&gt; I am really amazed as to the new levels of contempt I can feel for the entire human race.

Mike

[ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: MikeM32 ]

[ringo]

I hate my cube too, but I've noticed that people will avoid your workspace if they're uncomfortable there. Cover your walls with strange internet humor, play loud noises on your computer, tint your lighting a funny color....

[Face Ache]

Your own cubicle?

I used to dreeeaam of my own cubicle!

I spent 18 months "hot-desking" or whatever they call it. Shared cubicles. Rotating shifts.

Unhappiness is a warm chair and no drawers to call your own.

[G4ME]

resisting from mentioning monty python skit

resisting ah the need has subsided

[driven]

Originally posted by G4ME:
<STRONG>Driven what ever you do, don't by all means let them steal your stapler.

(beb nice fear and loathing sig great movie awsome sound track)</STRONG>

Heh heh ... since you brought it up ... we work in a matrix organization. I really do have four bosses. (And yes, I really do have to explain everything four times.)

Geez .... bad to worse.

BTW: There are still companies out there with offices? I've been doing this since 1988, I've been at all levels of various companies, and all sizes of companies and I have yet to see a place that wasn't all cubicals.

[ringo]

Driven, what's a matrix organization? How the hell does anyone get anything done with four bosses to babysit?

[Face Ache]

A matrix organisation is an organisation where the person who is responsible is always the person to your immediate left.

See: Enron.

[driven]

A Matrix organization is a different organizational structure. (Don't feel bad if you didn't hear about it .. I didn't hear about it until one of my Master's level business courses.)

Bascially you report to a program manager (and his boss) as well as a project manager (and his boss).

Larger companies such as Boeing, GE and Lockhead have been using this type of organization for years.

Some examples: http://www.gga-hannover.de/gga_engl/...org/matrix.htm
http://www2.egr.uh.edu/~tmalleng/PGMT.htm (about 7/8 down the page)
http://www.unf.edu/~gbaker/Man4201/Chapt003a.PDF (See page 7)

and lastly: http://www.projectshub.com/projects/50009/50009a.htm

(Some excerpts from this last link below)
The Matrix Organization Structure

A more popular model that many companies utilize is the matrix organization, especially as they extend their reach globally. By integrating technical expertise and product lines in each location along with support functions, even large companies can create small, entrepreneurial entities capable of rapid, localized response. Sometimes an organization needs to run according to what projects they have to do. In these situations people usually work together in a team to achieve their projects goals. A person working on a project would have two bosses, the boss of the department that they work in and the leader or manager of the particular project that they are working on at the moment. A project may cover some or all of the organizations departmental areas. This structure is being used in advertising agencies, aerospace firms, research and development laboratories, construction companies, hospitals, government agencies, management consulting firms, and entertainment companies.

For instance in the aerospace industry (manufacture and development of aeroplanes and spacecraft) the government might ask for a space shuttle type aircraft to be developed and manufactured. Another government department might ask for a spacecraft to go to Mars. Obviously these craft would be very different. How could an organisation set itself up to complete both projects? Well it might set up two project groups. The Mars group and the shuttle group, both of which would utilise resources, staff etc from all of the different departments in the organization. When the projects are completed, these project groups would be disbanded.

The matrix structure is sometimes useful for organizing organizations with complex goals and multiple responsibilities. It can also blur the lines of responsibility giving rise to uncertainty. The matrix structure tends to work well when there is a cooperative culture and good understanding between staff. If not, then confusion may result.

The Importance of Matrix Organization

Amongst the earlier writers, Kolodny (1980) and Davis and Lawrence (1977) held the opinion that organizations should turn to matrix organization when the following three conditions exist simultaneously:
� When outside pressures require that intensive attention be focused on an objective that can be achieved only by executing two or more different kinds of functional tasks concurrently;
� When the co-ordination load threatens to overwhelm managers; and
� When economy of scale and high performance can be achieved through the flexible and shared use of scarce human resources.

All organizations face two problems from time to time, viz. how to specialize and how to co-ordinate. In the traditional hierarchical organization, specialization naturally receives much more attention than does co-ordination. However, serious simultaneous consideration of co-ordination is mandated when exceptional problems, requiring non-standardized solutions occur; when these solutions can be achieved only by simultaneous accommodation of diverse and conflicting interests and points of view; when optimal decisions by a centralized decision-making body become impossible; and when unforeseen problems arise, having a profound effect on the total system and not only on isolated departments. Matrix Structure with following fundamentals can make organization more effective: Effective Leadership, Empowerment, Shared goals, Boundary Management, Performance appraisal, Rewards. Not even Matrix but any organization with such qualities can always have a competitive advantage over others.

[Face Ache]

Exactly! In other words, when it hits the fan, the person on your immediate left is responsible. I just put it more succinctly.

[driven]

Originally posted by Face Ache:
<STRONG>Exactly! In other words, when it hits the fan, the person on your immediate left is responsible. I just put it more succinctly. </STRONG>

Indeed.

[Cipher13]

...and here I was ready for a tag-team thrashing of the Cube...

*exits thread, disappointed*

[driven]

Originally posted by Cipher13:
<STRONG>...and here I was ready for a tag-team thrashing of the Cube...

*exits thread, disappointed*</STRONG>

Heh heh ... sorry to disappoint you.
(I still like my G4 Cube!)

I'm hoping Apple comes up with a future alternative for me in 12-24 months when I'm ready to upgrade.
It should be:
- Small
- Quiet
- Fast
- Able to use my 17" Studio Display.