Re: "Space, the final frontier"

Subject: Re: "Space, the final frontier"
From: "Wing, Michael J" <mjwing -at- INGR -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 13:10:46 -0600

>If you have time, please describe your work area, including: home office or
>on-site, square feet, natural light or lack thereof, cubes/pods v. open
>spaces v. enclosed offices, quiet v. the din of phones ringing and people
>talking.

I presently share a 'real office'. In my last four departments (twice
in the same department), I have gone from
office-cube-office-cube-office.

I prefer the office for the following reasons:

- It has a door. You can shut it. Most people will respect this overt
request to work uninterrupted.
- External sounds are deadened
- Neighbors don't have a conversation across my domain while each
of them stands on a chair to look across the cubicle
- Airborne articles intended for another location don't accidentally
land in my space.
- Tall, rubber-necked, gawkers don't take inventory of my space
each time they walk by.
- Other people's music doesn't assault my ears (especially country
or what passes for rock in the 90s)
- I'm only dealing with two phones; mine and my office mate's.
- It's easier to set environmental rules with only one other person. I
worked
in one cube where the woman in the next cube had a steady stream
of visitors. On of the visitors was totally enamored with her and
would
spend a good 3 hours a day visiting. He would tease her all day. So
it
would be giggle, "stop that!", giggle, "how can you say that!", etc
...

>If you have a "real office" (one with floor to ceiling walls and
>maybe even a door), does everyone in the company/office/unit have one, or
>are you special (because of seniority, supervision responsibilities,
>whatever)?

Offices with windows are pretty much given to managers. So are single
occupied offices. Some non-managers share windowed offices. Often, two
non-managers will still have to share an office even if the one next to
them is unoccupied (it usually becomes a meeting room). Most everyone
has a choice of sharing an office or having a cube to themselves.
However, if you choose an office and have no roommate, it seems
extraordinary effort is made to put someone in there with you. I once
shared with two other people (a 15' by 15' office).

At my last company you couldn't have a office unless you were a Manager,
Salesman or an Engineer. Therefore, there were two empty offices and I
shared a medium sized cube with two technicians and a Mechanical
Designer (you had to be an EE, Physicist, Chemist, or a CS to merit an
office). However, to their credit they eventual distributed the space
more logically.
>
>Do you find that your work space affects your output or morale? Or are you
>the kind who could do creative work in a busy railroad station, fumes and
>all, and not be negatively affected?

I would say it does. I don't like a lot of conversations and/or
activity around me. I simply abhor the phone. I often unplug it when I
need extra concentration or I'm really close to figuring something out.
Voice mail catches my urgent messages. Thank goodness, we don't have a
paging system. I snipped the wires to the speaker that sat above my
desk at my last company.

The temperature setting is usually a silent but steady battle. I tend
to get too hot. I'd rather have it a little too cold than too hot.
Others, use heaters and were their coats all year.
>
>Add any other work-environment info you'd like to share. Respond to me
>directly if you will, and if there's interest, I'll summarize to the list.
>
>Thanks for your time.
>
>Virginia Link
>
Mike Wing
_____________________________________________
| Michael Wing
| Principal Technical Writer
| Infrastructure Technical Information Development
| http://www.ingr.com/iss/products/mapping/
| Intergraph Corporation
| Huntsville, Alabama
| (205) 730-7250
| mjwing -at- ingr -dot- com

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