I don't feel I have some kind of mental safety in open office. Bell labs are best kinds of office where you have offices with hub common area for your team where you can go out and discuss stuff.
My preference is to go to the pub to brainstorm over burgers and beer. I did work for a small biz where the owner would take us all out on Friday for that purpose. Most productive place I ever worked at. Eventually got bought out by a much bigger biz and it all went south.
Same! We had a small office round the corner from a pub, and we'd go there for lunch every friday. If we ever had to discuss that in front of clients, we referred to it as "meeting room P".
It is. Gets you out of your head, and having a dedicated "idea discussion time" means you have all week to think on and refine your ideas. Less wasted breath on half cooked BS.
