Re: "Space, the final frontier"

["Wing, Michael J" <mjwing -at- INGR -dot- COM>]

>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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