Cubicles are a High Tech Favela

My AVP (Area Vice President) told me today that my cube is a shared resource and needed to be centrally coordinated with the office manager.  This supposedly explained why it took 3 weeks for me to get permission to move to another cubicle when I was transferred to a different team.

This made me realize that I have no ownership, no equity, in the place where I spend the majority of my waking life.  It reminded me of the work that won Hernando de Soto the Nobel Prize in Economics.  He demonstrated that the reason for generational poverty in Peru is because the squatters in impoverished areas have no property rights and therefore cannot pass their property to their heirs.  They can build businesses and enjoy the fruits of the business while they live, but they cannot legally pass the title.  Thus, the equity dies with the founder.

This is also true when you work for someone else.  You can make a living so long as you are employed, but you take nothing with you when you leave and cannot pass any title to your heirs.

Of course, the AVP made the mistake of breaking the fourth wall by reminding me that I am not an owner.  All of the agents of a company should want the employees to behave like owners, which is easier if they feel some level of ownership.