I was asking myself that question this evening, and by the grace of google, here is the answer.
Bob Propst invented the cubicle in 1964 while working with Herman Miller. His intentions were to make a better environment than the open plan, sea of desks that were common at the time. But his invention couldn't solve the fundamental problem. Office work sucks. As Yvonn Abraham of the Boston Phoenix writes,
But Propst's forward-thinking motives were misinterpreted by some companies, which simply crammed more workers into smaller spaces and took advantage of the system's huge potential for savings and tax breaks (laws permit businesses to write off the depreciation of cubicles much more quickly than that of traditional offices).Probst says it even better himself, "...people who can take the same kind of equipment and create hellholes. They make little bitty cubicles and stuff people in them. Barren, rat-hole places.... I never had any illusions that this is a perfect world."
boingboing has picked up this story, and Mark made the observation that this year is the 40th anniversary of the invention of the cubicle.
Posted by bill at August 26, 2004 11:43 PM