There’s a lot of debate going on about the “death of the office.” (To the right, the 1960 movie The Apartment, about the abuses of office life in your parents' time.)
Workers find they like working from home. Employers say they want us back at their desks.
What no one asks is whether we need an office at all.
What does an office do? It acts as a control point, an organizing structure. It’s where data is collected and where decisions are made. But that definition doesn’t require a lot of space or a lot of workers.
In software, an office is a factory. My wife spent 37 years on that floor, before COVID. Since then, she’s been at home. It’s a better location. It’s quieter. Coordination can be done by phone. She doesn’t need the commute, and her employer doesn’t need the expense.
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