TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
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:Rick Lippincott <rjl6955 -at- gmail -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Sat, 11 Feb 2017 13:28:02 -0500
The thing I find most interesting about this trend toward open office areas
is that it seems we've forgotten the past. For decades, open office was
standard practice for many companies with engineering staffs, and my
recollection is that things started changing in the 1980s. Mid '80s, I was
working at a firm where the transition had started, the engineers were all
at huge open areas, literally stretching hundreds of yards, just rows and
rows of drafting tables. (Writers were in the same arrangement, but not
quite as much space needed.)
The 1987 date on that book about the advantages is telling, that was when
the transition was going on.
Companies spent the money to go from open space to cubicles because it
worked, and it was an improvement. If it hadn't been, the idea would have
died an early death, and been gone by the early '90s.
But now, people are saying that cubicles are bad, open space is good.
OK.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -- George
Santayana
--Rick Lippincott
On Sat, Feb 11, 2017 at 6:37 AM, Joe Pairman <joepairman -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> The over-the-ear Bose QuietComfort headphones are quite good. Reasonably
> comfy, as the name suggests, and they cut out a lot of noise & chatter even
> without any music on.
>
> The only problem is that you can't even hear yourself properly on a Skype
> call, so you end up bellowing, making it more difficult for colleagues to
> get work done!
>
> Joe
>
> On Sat, 11 Feb 2017 at 07:48, Helen OBoyle <hoboyle -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> > â
> >
> > I'm a bit challenged by the headphone culture. I don't find them
> > comfortable and find music distracting (I've got a pattern-seeking brain
> > good for reverse-engineering code, but not so good for trying to do
> > anything with music playing in the background). But yeah, we do plenty
> of
> > meetings over Skype with people in the company's other office in a
> > different state or overseas, and that's really a great help.
> >
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and
> content development | http://techwhirl.com
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as rjl6955 -at- gmail -dot- com -dot-
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and
> info.
>
> Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online
> magazine at http://techwhirl.com
>
> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com