#openoffice

They sent an email re buildings A and B in Chandler. What do you think, will we get a stupid open office design with no cubicles, or a layout that will cram us in further so that we can all come in 5 days/week? Both? I loathe the open office setup, it's so distracting.

I’ve been loving the open-plan HMP setup and how much it’s boosted real collaboration, but I feel like we’re leaving some upside on the table. A lot of the private offices were only supposed to be temporary, yet plenty of people (especially in Subsurface and the old CTC groups) are still camped out in them long-term. It’s starting to feel like the last holdouts keeping us from going full one-team.

If we accelerated the rollout and moved everyone into the open plan, it would be a game changer. No more closed doors creating little silos. Just full visibility, spontaneous conversations, and everyone including our geologists and reservoir engineers ... mixing it up with the rest of the business every day. That kind of constant collaboration would help us move faster, share knowledge better, and really crush the competition.
Management has already shown they’re willing to make bold calls on workspace. Speeding this up and finally transitioning Subsurface out of those temporary offices would send a strong message and unlock even more of the culture and performance gains we’ve been seeing.

Chevrons heading in the right direction. Let’s finish what we started and make the open environment the standard everywhere. Anyone else think it’s time to push harder on this? Especially curious how the field and ops folks see it when you’re in the office. Would getting Subsurface fully into the open plan help with handoffs and alignment, or am I off base?

I was in the office and there was a lady repeatedly peeking into all the focus/conferences rooms on my floor. Not sure if she was just a busy body or it was her job. I hope people continue to use those rooms so at least there’s less people in open areas. There’s little to no separation between the cube spaces and it gets loud. Funny how it’s acknowledged that those rooms help people to focus yet there is a horrible open space design everywhere with no effort to make it a better experience.

This YouTube video describes Canon perfectly, as well as most large corporations.

Don’t believe the “collaboration & innovation” propaganda, it’s all about cost savings and making you miserable.

Rules for thee, not for me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_p7W3g3UVg

Anyone notice how they never showed the places where you’ll actually work? Probably because it will be the same old open plan warehousing with no assigned seats where you’ll have to battle background noise while you try to do focused work.

And remember, all the fancy stuff is about one thing: making your life revolve around AT&T and Stankeytown as much as possible. Same playbook as Google, Apple etc just 30 years later.

For now at least, this hub is still hanging around. We will ditch the DTV space and move a couple of miles down the road. The new building looks fairly nice but I’m sure they will ruin it by cramming us all into an open plan that makes concentration impossible. No date given but since they sent notice have to believe it will be in the next couple of months at most.

So they are moving forward with renovations at 1RP. I’ve heard rumors (so take it with a grain of salt) that there will be more of an open concept floor plan (gross) and that they are fixing up the building to sell (more likely if OH doesn’t change the laws around generation). Anyone heard anything else?

Placing engineers—especially those expected to think deeply, design complex systems, and solve nuanced problems—in a call center-style environment is typically a recipe for reduced productivity, poor morale, and suboptimal work quality. Here's a breakdown of what you might expect:
🔇 1. Disruption of Deep Work
Engineering requires focus. Complex problem-solving, debugging, architecture decisions, and coding often need extended periods of uninterrupted concentration (aka “deep work”).
In a call center-like environment—loud, crowded, constant interruptions—engineers will struggle to reach that mental state.
Expect more errors, slower progress, and lower code quality.
😤 2. Morale and Retention Issues
Engineers typically value autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
A call center setup implies surveillance, noise, lack of control over the environment, and potentially even micromanagement.
Result? Burnout, disengagement, and eventually attrition. You may lose your best talent first.
🧠 3. Shallow Thinking Becomes the Norm
When you're in a reactive environment—like one focused on pings and constant chatter—people naturally start thinking short-term.
Instead of proactive design and long-term systems thinking, engineers will fall into reactive, band-aid solutions.
📉 4. Decline in Innovation
Innovation thrives in environments where people have space to experiment, reflect, and collaborate thoughtfully.
The call center model is built for throughput, not thoughtfulness.
Expect fewer new ideas, missed architectural risks, and weaker long-term planning.
🤝 5. Poor Collaboration
Ironically, while open or call center-style setups are often justified as “promoting collaboration,” in reality:
They often increase distractions rather than useful conversations.
Real collaboration requires intentional, focused communication, not random drive-by chats or overheard meetings.

🛠️ Putting engineers in a call center environment is like asking a concert pianist to practice in a food court. Sure, they might play something—but it won’t be their best work, and they probably won’t stick around.

Anyone has experience with this? There are rumors that my group is switching to Open Office Seating and they are selling it to us as a 'great improvement' and 'collaboration enhancement' - honestly I am not so sure, I'd bet there will be drawbacks. Anyone here as this setup right now? Or, have you had it before joining Qualcomm? Please let me know. #openoffice #openofficeseating