Nobody asked for this, but that’s kind of the point of this whole category, isn’t it. Open-plan offices were sold to us as “collaborative” and “energizing.” What they actually are is a machine for making everyone type quieter and think less clearly.
I’ve sat in enough of them to know the tell: the good ones are half-empty by 2pm because everyone’s found a stairwell, a car, or a coffee shop to actually get work done in. That’s not collaboration. That’s exile with good lighting.
Build me a door. That’s the whole rant.
