Comment by majormajor

I've been a developer with a private office and I've also been on a small (< 10 person) team in an open office plan. Give me the open office any day. If there's a side conversation not of interest to me, I tune it out. But frequently there are ones that are of interest to me that I'm able to either contribute to or learn something from. It's great for group troubleshooting of sudden issues, too.