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Ask HN: Mandated to be in office as an engineer. How do I minimize distractions?

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Re: Ask HN: Mandated to be in office as an engineer. How do I minimize distractions?

#15
One option is to listen to white noise or similar (I think brown noise sounds the best). It's unpleasant to have to drown out background noise but it works very well even for discussions nearby. There are various websites and apps that will play brown noise, or you can use speaker-test in Linux.

I used to have a roommate in college who insisted he needed the TV on at all times and wouldn't wear headphones. My pomodoro script that played white noise for 25 minutes was critical for being able to focus in my room that year.

Re: Ask HN: Mandated to be in office as an engineer. How do I minimize distractions?

#16
Commit to getting less done.

The company wants less work to get done. That's why they built such a distracting office. There's not much you can do as an employee but just feel ok with getting a lot less done.

IMO you shouldn't say anything about this plan. The geniuses in charge don't like to think about how their poor choices affect productivity.

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