Agreed completely, I have always hated the bullpen and complain at every company I work for that thinks it's a good idea. So far the trend in tech companies still seems to be "more bullpen" though.
I tend to work at home as much as I can, so that I can actually get some work done. I'm starting to see going into the office as more of a social thing than a work thing.
I like what you had to say about being done with words and looking for actions now. It seems like an intelligent way to live.
I agree with one caveat. I love quiet, but I also love collaboration.
The solution for me is in purpose-fit team spaces. If everybody in a room is working on the same thing, and all the conversation is team-specific, it can be a joy. It is tricky to get both the space and the cultural discipline, but I really love it when it works.
Which means I thoroughly hate the way "collaboration" has been used to thoughtlessly bully people into cheap-ass, disruptive working spaces.
What about online collaboration? In my experience, that is the only place collaboration has actually happened. There's something about asynchronous collaboration that seems to make it more effective than synchronous collaboration, at least sometimes.
Collaboration happens all the time in the physical world. For many sorts of collaboration, I like it better, in that you can get much shorter feedback loops. Depends on what you're up to, though.
I work on a team part of which is on-site. My experience is that it is easier to communicate with those that are on-site. I guess that's called collaboration.
I tend to work at home as much as I can, so that I can actually get some work done. I'm starting to see going into the office as more of a social thing than a work thing.
I like what you had to say about being done with words and looking for actions now. It seems like an intelligent way to live.