Cube Farm

A farm in which cubicle employees, usually programmers, are treated like farm animals in battery farms. No space, poor lighting, uncomfortable conditions and no privacy. Essentially 'farming' their productivity while caring little about their health or welfare. CubeFarms are looked down upon by all who have been worked in one, but sadly due to 'cost saving' most tech companies use them.

Is a CubeFarm anyplace where cubicles (as opposed to offices with fixed walls, or OneGiantRoom) are used? Or does other unpleasantness, such as poor lighting, etc. need to be present? I work in a cube; however I have control over my lighting, etc. In addition, our cube walls are higher than most (5'9" or so); as I'm 5'7" that means I can move about the cubicles without my head sticking up.

Our cubes are just low enough to see over and we get fed plenty of fluorescent lights. We even have some under the lockable bookcases on one wall. However, our cubes are not four walls--several are two, a couple have three. It's like OneGiantRoom, but we have some privacy for talking on the phone. Good programmers can't work together when they're isolated. --WillGray

A question for all: What is the threshold for an unacceptable cubicle?

I have a cubicle of 7 feet square. I would say anything less than 6 feet square is unacceptable. That is, if cubicles can be considered acceptable in the first place. -- WillGray

To clarify, I assume we're talking about an acceptable cubicle for one person plus visitors. IBM decided for one of their own facilities that each person needs about 100 square feet of floor and 30 square feet of desk. That's from Peopleware (I'm going from memory, though). I'm in a bit less than that. (An acceptable two person cube might be 20'x20', if they're doing unrelated work...) --JesseMillikan

See ProgrammingOutsideTheCube, LordOfTheFlies, ProgrammingInsideTheCube

CategoryWorkEnvironment