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Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

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Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#31

Post by Swizec »

Xcelerate wrote: post #13
post_break wrote: post #6

Coworker who is extremely loud on the phone. I get 0 work done when she's on the phone. She's so loud I can't hear people when I'm on the phone. We have an "open door" policy at work so if I close my door to my own office it looks weird. If I tell her she's being too loud I look like an asshole. We're moving to a new building and I'm going to be on a different floor than her and I can't wait. So many years of listeni…

As a graduate student, I was lucky to have an advisor that let me work on research from anywhere as long as I was getting stuff done. I tried to work in the office a few times, and a couple loud people made it almost impossible for me to accomplish anything. Coffee shops, despite the presence of ambient conversations, were much more effective for me. I haven't quite figured out the difference between coffee shop nois…

> I haven't quite figured out the difference between coffee shop noise and office noise — I just know that I can tune the former out, while the latter makes it difficult to concentrate.

Coffee shop noise is irrelevant, office noise might be relevant. You automatically pay attention even if you don't want to.

For me, noise cancelling headphones are a necessity. Impossible to get anything done otherwise.

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#32

Post by williamscales »

davidtgoldblatt wrote: post #18

An anecdote for those who hoped they'd find suggestions in the comments: I ended up buying some over-the-head earmuff headphones aimed at construction workers (I think with a 25dB noise reduction rating). I put in ear plugs, then the headphones, and play some light music; even relatively loud and nearby conversations drop away pretty quickly. (Ordinary "noise cancelling" headphones aren't intended to block the sound…

Noisli — http://www.noisli.com/ is a neat little site for playing ambient noise that I find works great to cut out the sound of talking when I'm using noise cancelling headphones.

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#33

Post by Swizec »

ryandrake wrote: post #26

Different strokes for different folks. I'm probably the only person on HN that prefers open office workspaces. I currently have an office to myself and it's so lonely and isolating. I think I'd go crazy working all day without human interaction, so I hardly ever use it. And, no, chat isn't an adequate substitute. I'll generally charge up my laptop and go out and work in a break room or some other common area with act…

Maybe you're an extrovert? Being around people gives you energy.

For us introverts it's the opposite. Being around people drains us of energy. Even if we enjoy their company and enjoy social interaction. It's tiring.

There's probably no silver bullet for office design. People are different, as you say.

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#34

Post by Futurebot »

I've worked in a private office, small shared-office, cube farms, open plan, and remote. What I've always thought was a good mix was:

- Developers (and sometimes others that need quietude, like art/graphics people) get either a private office each or a shared, developer-only office

- Marketing and sales that need constant communication / thrive on motion and energy get open plans

- A mix of full-on conference rooms and small, private phone/meeting rooms

- Account managers, finance, managers get their own space, which can be cubes or shared offices.

Putting people who need to concentrate in with people whose job is to constantly talk and/or socialize is a recipe for (asymmetrically) poor productivity. The fact that office designs are sometimes dictated by the vicissitudes of management fads and a misguided desire to save money by just building one-size-fits-all layouts, even though a good design will pay for itself many times over, is very unfortunate.

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#36

Post by pavel_lishin »

wwggggoi wrote: post #3

honestly, that's why I'm hardly ever in the office. there's someone there who's noise profile is utterly unfilterable. they fiddle with things, drop things, fidget, cough, snort phlegm up their nose, subvocalize, and generally emit an air of restlessness. nice person though.

Has anyone ever told them that they're noisy? I suspect that I might be such a person, and explicitly tell anyone to go ahead and let me know if I'm ever annoying.

I think I'm approachable enough that they take the offer at face value, and not as a passive-aggressive "don't you dare".

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#37

Post by kaishiro »

ryandrake wrote: post #26

Different strokes for different folks. I'm probably the only person on HN that prefers open office workspaces. I currently have an office to myself and it's so lonely and isolating. I think I'd go crazy working all day without human interaction, so I hardly ever use it. And, no, chat isn't an adequate substitute. I'll generally charge up my laptop and go out and work in a break room or some other common area with act…

Nah, you're not alone. I've commented in this regard before, but working in isolation for me just destroys my productivity. I find it very difficult to focus as I feel very alone in the work. I don't even need or want to be a part of the ongoing conversations. It's just something about being amongst other people doing things that motivates me. Given the choice between a large office with a door and a random table at a busy Starbucks I'd take the cafe every time.

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#38

Post by Eric_WVGG »

Xcelerate wrote: post #13
post_break wrote: post #6

Coworker who is extremely loud on the phone. I get 0 work done when she's on the phone. She's so loud I can't hear people when I'm on the phone. We have an "open door" policy at work so if I close my door to my own office it looks weird. If I tell her she's being too loud I look like an asshole. We're moving to a new building and I'm going to be on a different floor than her and I can't wait. So many years of listeni…

As a graduate student, I was lucky to have an advisor that let me work on research from anywhere as long as I was getting stuff done. I tried to work in the office a few times, and a couple loud people made it almost impossible for me to accomplish anything. Coffee shops, despite the presence of ambient conversations, were much more effective for me. I haven't quite figured out the difference between coffee shop nois…

Your office was a couple loud coherent voices. Cafe noise is white noise.

Right now I'm in a cafe that has 50+ people and thumping bass music, all sweet white noise. With a beat.

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#39

Post by mgkimsal »

Futurebot wrote: post #34

I've worked in a private office, small shared-office, cube farms, open plan, and remote. What I've always thought was a good mix was: - Developers (and sometimes others that need quietude, like art/graphics people) get either a private office each or a shared, developer-only office - Marketing and sales that need constant communication / thrive on motion and energy get open plans - A mix of full-on conference rooms a…

And yet, most places I've seen inside, it's the opposite on those top two points.

Dev/creative folks are in bullpen/open areas Marketing/sales get private offices

Justification I got a couple times was the sales people need to talk numbers, and that needs to be private. Cynically, I think they don't want anyone else (like devs) overhearing the (over)promising that's done, or hear/witness some of the desperation when things are going bad. Also, was told once that having your sales guy talk on a phone in an open office will make it sound like they're in a boiler-room situation, and lose credibility.

Fine - give everyone private/closed spaces, and give shared workspaces available to those who need it when they need it.

Still amazes me that people will pay $100k+ for 'jr-mid' level folks in some areas, but cram them in bullpens because "cost".

Re: Noisy Coworkers And Other Sounds Are A Distraction In Workplace

#40

Post by Swizec »

zzalpha wrote: post #20
Matachines wrote: post #9

Another thread where most commenters will advocate for remote work and/or private offices. I agree. Dan Luu recently said this about Peopleware, which advocates for offices and is highly regarded: > This book seemed convincing when I read it in college. It even had all sorts of studies backing up what they said. No deadlines is better than having deadlines. Offices are better than cubicles. Basically all devs I talk…

I think a book that cites sources is immediately more trustworthy, to me, than companies following fashionable trends in office design without a critical eye toward impacts on employee performance. Show me one, just one , example of a company moving to open office space only after evaluating performance impact (or, conversely, immediately evaluating the impact after such a change), and that would be something to look…

Maybe they do all those studies and decide that the hit in productivity is worth the cheaper open space? Maybe individual performance just doesn't matter that much? I'd bet that the bigger the company, the less it matters how effective individuals are and the more it matters how effective teams are.

As much as I love working from home or an office or whatever, team productivity is better when people who work together share physical space.

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