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Re: IBM is having a Yahoo moment: No more working from home
Subject:Re: IBM is having a Yahoo moment: No more working from home From:Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"Wright, Lynne" <Lynne -dot- Wright -at- kronos -dot- com>, "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 10 Feb 2017 11:14:34 -0500
On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 11:08 AM, Wright, Lynne <Lynne -dot- Wright -at- kronos -dot- com>
wrote:
> Of course they don't! We're all supposed to be "team players", right?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cardimon, Craig [mailto:ccardimon -at- M-S-G -dot- com]
> Sent: February-10-17 11:05 AM
> To: Wright, Lynne <Lynne -dot- Wright -at- Kronos -dot- com>; 'Lin Sims' <
> ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com>; 'salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com' <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com>
> Cc: 'techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com' <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> Subject: RE: IBM is having a Yahoo moment: No more working from home
>
> From how open space is becoming a thing, I can tell how companies don't
> care at all about their introverts.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:
> techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of
> Wright, Lynne
> Sent: Friday, February 10, 2017 10:50 AM
> To: Lin Sims <ljsims -dot- ml -at- gmail -dot- com>; salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com
> Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: RE: IBM is having a Yahoo moment: No more working from home
>
> More collaboration in an open work space = more distracting ambient noise
> for everyone. Its debatable whether that trade-off is worth it.
>
> I think the real reason companies go for open space designs are that 1) it
> reduces costs because you don't have to buy cubicle partitions and you can
> squeeze more people into the same space; 2) people can't slack off by
> surfing the internet or whatever, because anybody passing by can see what's
> up on people's monitors; 3) It looks all hip and minimalist to have long
> banks of shared worktables with no space for clutter.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:
> techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=kronos -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of
> Lin Sims
> Sent: February-10-17 10:40 AM
> To: salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com
> Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: IBM is having a Yahoo moment: No more working from home
>
> There's been at least one study that suggests that the "open work space
> environment" (I had to look that up; yech!) doesn't inspire any more
> collaboration than having private offices; however, people who have private
> or semi-private offices seem to have far lower levels of stress.
>
>http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidburkus/2016/06/21/why-
> your-open-office-workspace-doesnt-work/#4f89804216d0
>
> I miss working at Telcordia. Managers had private offices, and everyone
> else had semi-private (2 people per room) offices. Solid cinder block walls
> and a solid door. Ah, peace.
>
> On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 9:31 AM, Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com>
> wrote:
>
> > IBM and Yahoo aside, I do perceive value in certain sociability
> > aspects of being on-prem.
> >
> > But at one client whose facility I frequent one a month or so, all are
> > engaged in meetings all day, every day. I leave wondering how anyone
> > actually does any work. And Mr. ImAllImportant marketing guy wants to
> > quibble that medical device user manual reading audiences (if any
> > exist) that no one will understand what "unwell" means (he wants it to
> > read, "not feel well").
> >
> > Further, I just read in the local edition of the Business Review that
> > yet another company has bought a building and is going to create an
> > open workspace environment. No thanks.
> >
> > At least my HP cubicle afforded some degree of privacy, and it was
> > common to let team members know when one was "on critical path" (read:
> > don't bug me right now). From what I've read, all the open workspace
> > does is promote more slacking off, not desired "team building" (unless
> > that definition has come to mean playing fraternity house pranks).
> >
> > Once upon a time I had a high-ceilinged 12' x12' office with a door I
> > could shut. If I needed to attend a meeting, no problem. If I needed
> > to coach an engineer how to construct an actual useful UI, no problem.
> > If I needed to go in the lab to bang on a piece of kit, I could. Yet
> > when I needed some freakin' quiet think-and-do time, I could retreat
> > to my man cave and have at it with no interruptions.
> >
> > Today I have a nicer man cave at home, from where I do my clients'
> > work. At the medical device place, all they give me is a study carrel,
> > a crappy lamp that can't be positioned such that I'm not looking
> > directly into it, and no external monitor (they all have twin 24"
> > units in their cubicles). My handler was put off when I insisted on
> > going back to my nearby hotel room between their all-important
> > cross-dysfunctional meetings. There I had set up my external keyboard
> > and 24" rotating monitor with my laptop, along with Bose SoundLink
> > Mini. I had all of the peace and quiet I needed (except for the
> > snowplow at 4:00 am one morning)âespecially during one very intense
> > 1-1/2 hour critical path where 150+ pages were flying as I hastened to
> > update yet another iteration.
> >
> > Chris Morton
> >
> >
> >
> > â Substantive Editing â Technical Writing â Proofreading
> > â Marketing Expertise â Mentoring Click to
> > <http://t.sidekickopen68.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nM
> > JN7t5XYgdnqQxW7fsH3H4XrddKW1pNgV-56dMhqf2Q-c6C02?t=https%3A%
> > 2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fpub%2Fchris-morton%2F2%2F166%
> > 2F6ba&si=6020636811198464&pi=4ba8e002-4d27-4f88-dc26-e24f9998f2c4>
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 9:04 AM, Cardimon, Craig <ccardimon -at- m-s-g -dot- com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > The idea of working shoulder-to-shoulder is not exciting to
> > > introverts like me.
> > >
> > > If the introverts have options, they will skedaddle.
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:
> > > techwr-l-bounces+ccardimon=m-s-g -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
> > > techwr-l-bounces+Of
> > > Stuart Burnfield
> > > Sent: Friday, February 10, 2017 8:51 AM
> > > To: 'Techwr-l' <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> > > Subject: Re: IBM is having a Yahoo moment: No more working from home
> > >
> > > It sounds a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
> > >
> > > IBM is a vast, surprisingly decentralized, enterprise so it's hard
> > > to sum up in simple terms. But if you poke around on ibm.com and
> > > browse the marketing material that's written by marketing people and
> > > not technical people, you'll find a lot of "I don't understand what
> this means"
> > > translated from English into marketing jargon.
> > >
> > > Getting the writers to sit with other marketing people who don't
> > > understand what it means either isn't going to help with that.
> > >
> > > If cutting payroll really is the unstated goal, this will work. A
> > > lot of good people who can leave will leave because they have
> > > options. Some
> > staff
> > > who suspect they won't thrive on the job market will stay.
> > >
> > > If the real target is lack of productivity from some remote workers,
> > > this is a ham-fisted way of going about it. It's a management
> > > problem that
> > could
> > > be solved by better management.
> > >
> > > > "I know this is hard ... But we have gotten to a place where >
> > > we're excited about the path forward."
> > >
> > > <retch>
> > >
> > > Stuart
> > >
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>
> --
> Lin Sims
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