Evana Gerstman

Her Work: Senior User Experience Designer (large IT corporation)

“Well, I do like the space but then I don’t like the space.”

Evana Gerstman tells me about some of the differences between working a cubicle and working in an office. She says “it’s nice to feel steady especially in a strange economy, that’s why I don’t complain about my cube.” “It’s all good, you know, I would like an office but there are tradeoffs.” She tells me that the fact that she can change the height of her desk is really important to her so she really likes that. Ms. Gerstman explains to me “it’s nice to be in this area because then you can just quickly access your coworkers and that’s a little different than when you’re in your room or you close your door and people walk by and think you’re just too busy to have your door open. So in a way you’re more accessible and in another way sometimes I need to shut myself out and work, maybe with my headphones or something and maybe have a little tiny sing over there that says ‘please do not disturb unless it’s really important.’”  Evana Gerstman says “Usually I don’t have a sign. I have to learn my boundaries and that’s what this makes you do.” She explains to me that to work in the cubicles you need to have trust that others will leave your stuff alone. It sounds like she is really comfortable having her things here and she agrees. Ms. Gerstman says “it’s not bad, it’s just not quite the same as if you had four walls and you didn’t hear everyone.”

Evana Gerstman tells me “it’s always been important for me to make sure that I was ergonomically correct” and she explains some of the things she has tried to figure out like which way to face. She shows me how if she has it one way everyone can see her monitor and that can make her feel a little self conscious, but if she turns the other way she can’t see out the window. Ms. Gerstman tells me “I like looking out the window so I don’t really want my back to the window because then I’ll feel like I’m already always looking at people walking in the door and there’s a lot of hustle and bustle. So at least if I’m looking this way and I put my headphones on and I’m looking at my screen—I have a window and I can block things out.” She says there are a few detail oriented tasks and sometimes she will take the work home in order to make sure that she is organizing everything without any distractions.

Ms. Gerstman explains that one of the things you’re supposed to do if you work on a computer all day is to focus on something far away every 15 minutes in order to give your eyes a break. She says “I don’t time myself and every 15 minutes look into a corner and force my eyes to pay attention and exercise. But when there’s a window open I can just look out at trees or a bird and I actually think that saves my eyes.”  Ms. Gerstman says “I realize that’s why I really like the windows.”

Ms. Gerstman tells me about her workspace and she says “It’s actually pretty social, so you could get upset about it the one way because its distracting but in another way it doesn’t just feel like you’re a fish out of water just hanging out by yourself all day.” She tells me that there are people who work well alone all day and then there are those who enjoy the feedback of being around other people. Ms. Gerstman tells me that with design it’s great to have fresh eyes and some back and forth with your colleagues so her space allows that.

Working in the cubicles instead of an office, Ms. Gerstman tells me that “you’re exposed to so many people that you start to get less self conscious. I think when you’re in an office it tends to, it makes me more self conscious because I’m in my own little world and maybe not accessible and possibly out of the loop, and I want to be more in the loop.” She tells me that “a lot of times people who have offices will come and work with us.” “This is pretty much where it’s at, if you want to have a group design, if you want to have a design review, if you want to get everyone else’s opinion, if you’re working on something with somebody else.” By way of contrast though Ms. Gerstman says “I like it over there too though, it is nice to be with your group and have an office but it’s also good to be in the cube.”

One of the things Ms. Gerstman shares with me is how the workspaces are distributed here. She explains that even if you’re a really senior person being newly hired in the company that you don’t immediately get an office and instead you’re with everyone else in the cubicles. She says “it’s pretty egalitarian” and it’s humbling in another way and it actually forces you to adapt, and I don’t mind that. I actually don’t mind that there’s this kind of hierarchy in a way, that it’s about how long you’ve been with the company that’s rewarded rather than how high you are in your level and I think that’s really nice.”

She offers some design suggestions to make the cubicles a little more comfortable and tells me about another building that implements this. “I do think that if we had cubes with glass, so that we were a little bit enclosed instead of just all open that we’d have more freedom to talk, to talk on the phone, or maybe even freedom to turn music on for ourselves.”

Ms. Gerstman talks positively about the company and the employees and she says that “the more you’re around really bright people, I think the brighter you get” and she feels that she is in a company full of bright people. When I ask Ms. Gerstman to put her experience with her work into a few words she says “my work helps me feel that I have a purposeful life in one way and in another way I think that sometimes the things we worry about at work actually don’t need to be as important as we make them, as I make them. My experience with work is that I am continuing to learn commitment and force myself to think about what I want to do next and where my growth areas are and I’m always trying to find a place where I’m happy every day.” “My favorite part about work is collaboration and brainstorming because that parts fun.” “As a designer I enjoy being a puzzle solver.”