"interruptions were greater in number but shorter in duration and more on-task"
Given recent studies on multitasking, and the time it takes to get back on task, this does not sound like a positive thing.
"an ability to share work artefacts significantly challenge the effective collaboration of remote stakeholders"
Most "work artefacts' in software development are digital (and easily shared with the modern internet), and thus distance doesn't matter. This is obviously different from when this study was published in 2002.
The delay mentioned in the 2001 ieee article is virtually non-existant in modern work-from-home settings, where people are constantly connected by DVCS, screen sharing, skype, google hangouts, etc.
Yes, I'm cherry-picking problem quotes from your cherry-picked quotes, and don't have any studies to back up my beliefs (other than my own experience, which is frankly enough for me). That said, most of your citations are old, don't take into account research into human multi-tasking on complex projects, and don't take into account the tremendous advancements in remote communication that didn't exist as little as 5 years ago (github, google+, skype group calls, Trello, Bitbucket, Facetime, etc.)
Yet another anecdote: the last open office I applied to was definitely a war room... Warmachines, that is. I can't imagine getting anything of value done in that kind of environment.
Given recent studies on multitasking, and the time it takes to get back on task, this does not sound like a positive thing.
The question is when does an on-task interruption stop being something that switches modes. Also while the cost of task switching for an individuals productivity may be bad - it may be a net good for the team as a whole.
(BTW which recent studies? Interested in this since most of the multitasking research I'm aware of is pretty old and has the same general message of "it sucks". Would be interested in newer angles on this. Been away from academic cog-pych libraries for a while ;-)
Yes, I'm cherry-picking problem quotes from your cherry-picked quotes, and don't have any studies to back up my beliefs (other than my own experience, which is frankly enough for me).
My experiences have been mixed, but much more positive for co-located team rooms as I've seen folk try different alternatives.
Personally I'd say that the most productive teams I've seen have been co-located - and I've seen several teams who have deliberately moved (temporarily in some instances) to co-locate because they find it works better for them.
That said, most of your citations are old, don't take into account research into human multi-tasking on complex projects, and don't take into account the tremendous advancements in remote communication that didn't exist as little as 5 years ago (github, google+, skype group calls, Trello, Bitbucket, Facetime, etc.)
Most are old - but not all. I also think we tend to overestimate how much things have changed technology wise. I was using video chats, distributed source control, etc. five years ago. What we have now seems to be incremental improvements not game changers.
When I first started looking at this sort of thing six or seven years ago people applied the same arguments about email / internet / web....
Yet another anecdote: the last open office I applied to was definitely a war room... Warmachines, that is. I can't imagine getting anything of value done in that kind of environment.
My experiences have been different. An anecdote battle would probably be pointless - but some other folk in the thread seem to have had similar experiences.
I find it interesting that there's been no newer work showing clear benefits - which is why I'm looking.
Given recent studies on multitasking, and the time it takes to get back on task, this does not sound like a positive thing.
"an ability to share work artefacts significantly challenge the effective collaboration of remote stakeholders"
Most "work artefacts' in software development are digital (and easily shared with the modern internet), and thus distance doesn't matter. This is obviously different from when this study was published in 2002.
The delay mentioned in the 2001 ieee article is virtually non-existant in modern work-from-home settings, where people are constantly connected by DVCS, screen sharing, skype, google hangouts, etc.
Yes, I'm cherry-picking problem quotes from your cherry-picked quotes, and don't have any studies to back up my beliefs (other than my own experience, which is frankly enough for me). That said, most of your citations are old, don't take into account research into human multi-tasking on complex projects, and don't take into account the tremendous advancements in remote communication that didn't exist as little as 5 years ago (github, google+, skype group calls, Trello, Bitbucket, Facetime, etc.)
Yet another anecdote: the last open office I applied to was definitely a war room... Warmachines, that is. I can't imagine getting anything of value done in that kind of environment.