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3 big wins from knocking down [cubicle] walls

by Jamie Flinchbaugh on 10-04-11

3 times in my career, I was able to knock down the cubicle walls. The end-result was always half-walls or low-walls, with high visibility across the room. Twice we actually bought the proper furniture to make this happen, although one time we literally cut the existing walls.

Every time, people liked the change. It took at least a month before that was the opinion, because people had to get used to it. This is understandable. The only people that didn’t seem to like it after that were the ones who used the walls to hide the fact that they weren’t working. I wasn’t worried about how those folks felt.

Recently, Harvard Business Review shared some conclusions of a recent study of converting an office at Lilly. The article, Vision Statement: High-Performance Office Space, outlined some of the benefits that Lilly measured, with improvements in the following areas:

Square footage per employee
Furniture cost per employee
Capital cost per employee
Hours lost to noise
Hours lost to drop-by visitors
Hours lost waiting for feedback or approval from managers

Those were all measured. Here’s the top benefits from my experience.

1. Increased communication

There is so much small pieces of communication that can and should happen within a team. With a wall, someone actually has to think through “do I bother getting up for this?” Then there is the actual effort to do so.

In my experience, the number of small, 5 minute conversations that take place is much more suitable for keeping up with the flow of work and decision making.. Email traffic is cut down as a result.

2. A sense of community

Your team shares a space. It’s “our space” instead of “my space.” In my experience, teams take much better care of the environment from their desks on because it is a common area.

And the sense of community goes beyond taking care of the environment. If you’re the working-lunch kind of person, someone else doing the same thing can turn into a 15-minute shared lunch experience, building relationships. But if you’re stuck in your cube, this never happens.

3. Better space utilization

Because people didn’t need their own “visitor chair” in each cube anymore, that cut down on the space. File drawers were consolidated. Overall, in my last effort, in the same space we had offices, we added 3 small conference tables for quick meetings, and a full-sized conference room for the team. These were very beneficial to the team to get work done, and didn’t require any additional space.

There is more, as the Harvard article mentions, but these were 3 that I most clearly observed.

How have you used “interior design” to improve team dynamics? What ideas have worked? What hasn’t?

Comments

  • It’s interesting that the HBR article references costs, while you reference connection. It’s a completely different worldview that convinces people in the cost world to make these changes vs. those people in the collaboration world. At least this change happens to make both groups smile.

    Jack Vinson October 4, 2011 at 11:32 am
  • It’s interesting that the HBR article references costs, while you reference connection. It’s a completely different worldview that convinces people in the cost world to make these changes vs. those people in the collaboration world. At least this change happens to make both groups smile.

    Jack Vinson October 4, 2011 at 11:32 am
  • It’s interesting that the HBR article references costs, while you reference connection. It’s a completely different worldview that convinces people in the cost world to make these changes vs. those people in the collaboration world. At least this change happens to make both groups smile.

    Jack Vinson October 4, 2011 at 11:32 am
  • Low walls make it more difficult to block off time for undisturbed work, and interruptions from non-urgent “drop-bys” are just as disruptive as interruptions from non-urgent emails. Most successful companies I’ve seen have some sort of visible management system to indicate that the person shouldn’t be disturbed — software engineers will wear earphones, for example. At one company I worked with, people put a stuffed animal up on the cube wall: when Snoopy (or Pooh, or the Little Mermaid) is up, leave me alone. Another company I know uses yellow police riot tape.

    Dan Markovitz October 4, 2011 at 11:57 am
  • Low walls make it more difficult to block off time for undisturbed work, and interruptions from non-urgent “drop-bys” are just as disruptive as interruptions from non-urgent emails. Most successful companies I’ve seen have some sort of visible management system to indicate that the person shouldn’t be disturbed — software engineers will wear earphones, for example. At one company I worked with, people put a stuffed animal up on the cube wall: when Snoopy (or Pooh, or the Little Mermaid) is up, leave me alone. Another company I know uses yellow police riot tape.

    Dan Markovitz October 4, 2011 at 11:57 am
  • Low walls make it more difficult to block off time for undisturbed work, and interruptions from non-urgent “drop-bys” are just as disruptive as interruptions from non-urgent emails. Most successful companies I’ve seen have some sort of visible management system to indicate that the person shouldn’t be disturbed — software engineers will wear earphones, for example. At one company I worked with, people put a stuffed animal up on the cube wall: when Snoopy (or Pooh, or the Little Mermaid) is up, leave me alone. Another company I know uses yellow police riot tape.

    Dan Markovitz October 4, 2011 at 11:57 am
  • Jack, you are right. I wouldn’t have had the means to do a cost analysis as they had with the large sample size, but I wouldn’t have taken that approach anyway. I was fundamentally focused on team.

    Dan, I agree that this can be a concern, but I didn’t observe cubical walls doing much to create privacy or prevent disruptions. Therefore, I consider it a problem in either case. I do believe that some visual management can help. I also believe that having a few small 1 to 2 person conference rooms where people can go for private talk and concentration work is a better solution regardless of what size the walls are.

    Jamie Flinchbaugh October 4, 2011 at 9:23 pm
  • Jack, you are right. I wouldn’t have had the means to do a cost analysis as they had with the large sample size, but I wouldn’t have taken that approach anyway. I was fundamentally focused on team.

    Dan, I agree that this can be a concern, but I didn’t observe cubical walls doing much to create privacy or prevent disruptions. Therefore, I consider it a problem in either case. I do believe that some visual management can help. I also believe that having a few small 1 to 2 person conference rooms where people can go for private talk and concentration work is a better solution regardless of what size the walls are.

    Jamie Flinchbaugh October 4, 2011 at 9:23 pm
  • Jack, you are right. I wouldn’t have had the means to do a cost analysis as they had with the large sample size, but I wouldn’t have taken that approach anyway. I was fundamentally focused on team.

    Dan, I agree that this can be a concern, but I didn’t observe cubical walls doing much to create privacy or prevent disruptions. Therefore, I consider it a problem in either case. I do believe that some visual management can help. I also believe that having a few small 1 to 2 person conference rooms where people can go for private talk and concentration work is a better solution regardless of what size the walls are.

    Jamie Flinchbaugh October 4, 2011 at 9:23 pm
  • In a former role, I worked on large scale client implementations, and in the latter part of the project, the team would go to “the pit”.
    This area had no walls. There were probably 8 people in the space of 6 normal cubes but the desks all faced the outer walls of one big area. That left room for a small conference table at the center. When deadlines were tight and stress was high, we found this to be a great way to build comradery, improve communications and make decisions fast. Instead of several associates heads down, frustrated, and dying to go home in the late evening hours, separated by cube walls, you’d find people chatting, getting things done, feeling like they were all in it together.
    For those doing detailed work like programming or documentation, headphones were worn for moments when undisturbed quiet was important. So invaluable to be able to flip off those headphones and get a question answered right away.

    Jennifer Cerny October 5, 2011 at 6:58 pm
  • In a former role, I worked on large scale client implementations, and in the latter part of the project, the team would go to “the pit”.
    This area had no walls. There were probably 8 people in the space of 6 normal cubes but the desks all faced the outer walls of one big area. That left room for a small conference table at the center. When deadlines were tight and stress was high, we found this to be a great way to build comradery, improve communications and make decisions fast. Instead of several associates heads down, frustrated, and dying to go home in the late evening hours, separated by cube walls, you’d find people chatting, getting things done, feeling like they were all in it together.
    For those doing detailed work like programming or documentation, headphones were worn for moments when undisturbed quiet was important. So invaluable to be able to flip off those headphones and get a question answered right away.

    Jennifer Cerny October 5, 2011 at 6:58 pm
  • In a former role, I worked on large scale client implementations, and in the latter part of the project, the team would go to “the pit”.
    This area had no walls. There were probably 8 people in the space of 6 normal cubes but the desks all faced the outer walls of one big area. That left room for a small conference table at the center. When deadlines were tight and stress was high, we found this to be a great way to build comradery, improve communications and make decisions fast. Instead of several associates heads down, frustrated, and dying to go home in the late evening hours, separated by cube walls, you’d find people chatting, getting things done, feeling like they were all in it together.
    For those doing detailed work like programming or documentation, headphones were worn for moments when undisturbed quiet was important. So invaluable to be able to flip off those headphones and get a question answered right away.

    Jennifer Cerny October 5, 2011 at 6:58 pm
  • I have seen the increased communication since I moved to an environment with 5 foot cubicle walls. We could still open it up more. I do send fewer emails now and go and talk with people close by. The standing desk has helped me with communication also.

    Matt Wrye October 13, 2011 at 9:22 am
  • I have seen the increased communication since I moved to an environment with 5 foot cubicle walls. We could still open it up more. I do send fewer emails now and go and talk with people close by. The standing desk has helped me with communication also.

    Matt Wrye October 13, 2011 at 9:22 am
  • I have seen the increased communication since I moved to an environment with 5 foot cubicle walls. We could still open it up more. I do send fewer emails now and go and talk with people close by. The standing desk has helped me with communication also.

    Matt Wrye October 13, 2011 at 9:22 am
  • In theory, and in many real situations it’s good. But in my low-wall workspace I sit next to a jerk. He likes to sing. He slams stuff that rocks the whole module. He talks so loudly on calls that my callers think he’s on the call. He’s an office house-ape and he thinks he’s just charming.
    Other departments deal with sensitive information. They need walls to maintain confidentiality. And they may need more security if phone conversations routinely involve confidential matters.
    So the abolition of cubicle walls and private spaces needs to be tempered with judgement.

    Pete January 31, 2012 at 9:55 am
  • In theory, and in many real situations it’s good. But in my low-wall workspace I sit next to a jerk. He likes to sing. He slams stuff that rocks the whole module. He talks so loudly on calls that my callers think he’s on the call. He’s an office house-ape and he thinks he’s just charming.
    Other departments deal with sensitive information. They need walls to maintain confidentiality. And they may need more security if phone conversations routinely involve confidential matters.
    So the abolition of cubicle walls and private spaces needs to be tempered with judgement.

    Pete January 31, 2012 at 9:55 am
  • In theory, and in many real situations it’s good. But in my low-wall workspace I sit next to a jerk. He likes to sing. He slams stuff that rocks the whole module. He talks so loudly on calls that my callers think he’s on the call. He’s an office house-ape and he thinks he’s just charming.
    Other departments deal with sensitive information. They need walls to maintain confidentiality. And they may need more security if phone conversations routinely involve confidential matters.
    So the abolition of cubicle walls and private spaces needs to be tempered with judgement.

    Pete January 31, 2012 at 9:55 am