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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

#241

Post by Grishnakh »

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…

If you love open offices so much, then quit your job and go find one with an open office. Almost all companies these days have open offices, so it shouldn't be hard for you to find such a job. Then you can clear out your office and job for someone who really appreciates it.

If you were whining about not having an office (like so many on here, including myself), I would not respond this way, because for them, it's not easy to find a job that gives them an actual office: these positions are extremely rare for developers these days. I haven't even seen such a place except for almost 20 years ago.

For you to complain about your office when almost everyone is miserably suffering in open-plan arrangements, and it'd be trivial for you to find such a job yourself, is a ridiculous level of gall.

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

#242

Post by pimeys »

xenihn wrote: post #8
pimeys wrote: post #7

Bought a pair of good closed back headphones after using semi-open headphones for ages. Lots of money you can pour into these, but can't complain having great sound and not able to hear the noise of my colleagues.

Which pair?

Beyerdynamic DT-1770. But I had a good DAC and my old head amp already, so it was an obvious choice. If you're missing these, I'd go with Shure SRH-1540 for lower impedance.

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

#243

Post by kough »

barabba wrote: post #194
kough wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same issue with noise-cancelling headphones (the bose qc 20 in-ears) where I couldn't wear them without sound pumping through them, so I ended up buying a pair of custom-molded in ear monitors (IEM is the search keyword to learn more). For a little cheaper than the price of the bose headphones, I had an audiologist take molds of my inner ear and then sent them to a guy in Poland ( http://thecustomart.com/mu…

Can I ask you which model you did buy? I am in the process of doing precisely the same and wondering if their acrylic models are isolating enough. Silicon apparently isolates better but requires more maintenance, makes them more difficult to insert and remove, and I'm not fully convinced I should go for a Music Two sound-wise. Thanks a bunch!

I bought the Custom Art Music One that I linked to in the above post. Most of the reviews I'd read agreed that it was an insanely good deal considering the quality-per-dollar ratio. And I don't regret it.

Maintenance: there's a little wire loop with a plastic handle included in the pelican case it ships with, lets you clean wax out of the canal. Tip: if you think one of your headphones is dead, just clean the wax out of the canal, it was blocking the sound. That's it – super simple, no idea what other maintenance you might be talking about.

Insertion/removal: nope, still quite easy. You have to give them a slight twist but definitely not hard.

Can't speak to the Music Two vs. Music One because I only have the latter, but I'll tell you that I've owned a decent number of headphones (in ear, over ear) and that the Music One are the best I've ever had.

EDIT: I swear I'm not shilling for this company. There are plenty of other great IEMs on the market. I just like these.

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

#244

Post by ChuckMcM »

sangnoir wrote: post #225
ChuckMcM wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, here is an interesting experiment. Take Alphabet's Q2 Earnings[1] and note that in the 3 months ending June 30, 2016, Alphabet generated 6.9B$ of free cash flow. That is after all the expenses they could think up to take out of it like building new data centers, offices, snacks, google I/O attendee gifts, whatever. Now divide that by the number of employees, 66,500. That means that there was just over $105,000…

> Since the investment rate of return is about 2% for cash equivalents, and the productivity rate of return would be on the order of at least 5%, you could say they were being dollar wise and productivity foolish. Would that increase be in individual productivity or team productivity? I wouldn't be surprised if the aggregate productivity goes down after moving into offices. I would love to read any papers that touch…

Its both, (individual and team productivity). The challenge is that people are different and their maximum productivity may be in an office or it may be in a small group setting.

One of the startups IBM acquired had some pretty solid data analysis they had done on the issue which was pretty clear for their teams.

My point though was that for high margin "info" businesses (where the product required no raw materials to manufacture) the cost of the office isn't an issue. Reading the recent Instapainting post is a good example, this guy is clearing $400K/year he can give himself a nice office to work out of.

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

#245

Post by mikestew »

dazc wrote: post #198
mikestew wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I tell her she's being too loud I look like an asshole. Only to her. Everyone else silently thanks you. Don't let assholes define the narrative by feeling like an asshole because you asked an asshole to quit being such an asshole.

I rent a closed office space but immediately outside my door sits a girl who thought it was cool to play music while she worked. I thought it was best to nip this behaviour in the bud and asked her to turn it down. This was 6 months ago and she hasn't spoken to me since. I sometimes say hello and goodbye but she just blanks me. Assholes will always find a way to be an asshole no matter what you do.

This was 6 months ago and she hasn't spoken to me since.

So she's even more quiet than requested. Sounds like a win. :-)

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

#246

Post by brazzledazzle »

taneq wrote: post #176
Joof wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sound horrendously wrong. Maybe for certain things we don't notice, but I have an inner monologue nearly 100% of the time (alongside other types of thought).

Yeah, a few seconds' web searching returns legions of diagnosed ADHD people with highly energetic inner monologues. It does kind of throw some doubt on the rest of the talk, given that he essentially says that ADHD is caused by the lack of inner voice leading to a lack of executive function and inability to control responses to stimuli.

I believe the theory is that the inner voice is delayed or diminished, not removed entirely. It's been some time since I watched it but I assume he's using hyperbole or generalizing for the audience. This is a talk for parents to understand their kids.

In his papers and books he argues that the inner voice is essentially broken because it's either incapable of helping regulate behavior and/or doesn't manifest itself during the decision making process. Executive function and its various components are impaired, delayed or not working together the way they should.

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

#247

Post by jmcdiesel »

chris_7 wrote: post #146
jmcdiesel wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can! They have great noise canceling headphones these days, so go ahead and put those on and let everyone else do their thing?

I don't understand how that will create silence, not just "different noise".

Ear plugs then? (Bose noise reducing headphones actually do a good job at drowning out office noise, even with no other audio playing)

The point is - its just as easy to block noise, so take the responsibility on your side rather than asking others to change for you.

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

#248

Post by jmcdiesel »

CaptSpify wrote: post #180
jmcdiesel wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those two things are completely non relatable. If your eyesight is bad, there are things YOU can do for YOURSELF to fix that problem, without asking anyone to change what THEY are doing. The "quiet office" is something that only some people prefer. Many of us (I'm one of them) prefer noise - music playing, background noise, etc ... I find it hard to concentrate in silence, and I know more people like me. To ask other…

So everyone should just adhere to how you want the world to be? yeah, that makes sense. I'm not asking anyone to change what they are doing. I'm asking them to stfu and do their job. They are the ones interrupting me, and getting into my business. Your the one asking people to change themselves to conform to your preferences.

Actually, no. You're asking them to behave in the way you prefer. You see, humans aren't naturally driven to be quiet - we're a social animal. We have inbuilt need to communicate, and we're not built to sit in little boxes and stare at a screen in quiet all day. You're asking others to do that though, rather than embrace the natural way our minds prefer to work for many of us. You can use ear plugs, listen to white noise, use good noise canceling headsets, etc. You aren't at their mercy, no more than they are at yours. Your desire for quiet shouldn't overcome their desire for socializing/noise. Everyone should handle themselves, and not ask of others to concede to their wishes.

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

#249

Post by [deleted] »

scottmf wrote: post #226
jpindar wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because we're both forced to work in the same room doesn't mean my coworkers have no choice but to force me to listen to their political rants etc. If I complained, I'd be labeled as "antisocial". That IS bullying.

How is it bullying any more than if you were to complain about him being too social? Your perceived antisociality could be almost as bothersome to him as his sociability is to you. I don't mean to dismiss your concern, and I can relate even, but workplaces are social environments and (apart from political rants which might border on offensive) I see no reason why you're a victim here.

[deleted]

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

#250

Post by pasbesoin »

scottmf wrote: post #226
jpindar wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because we're both forced to work in the same room doesn't mean my coworkers have no choice but to force me to listen to their political rants etc. If I complained, I'd be labeled as "antisocial". That IS bullying.

How is it bullying any more than if you were to complain about him being too social? Your perceived antisociality could be almost as bothersome to him as his sociability is to you. I don't mean to dismiss your concern, and I can relate even, but workplaces are social environments and (apart from political rants which might border on offensive) I see no reason why you're a victim here.

I didn't call it bullying. I called it a "cousin" of bullying.

And, for the record, I include in this work communication, not necessarily -- nor even primarily -- personal, "social" communication.

The loud guy I remember who would stand up, raise his voice, and shout conversations across aisles of cubes.

The "best practice" that shrunk our cubes to "corners", sitting almost shoulder to shoulder with 3 - 4 feet between us. People nonetheless holding hour long cube meetings and in-person screenshares and whatnot.

Getting a project completed and passed by a coworker, to find multiple, obvious bugs within the first five minutes. Because that person had no depth of attention whatsoever.

The best developers leaping at nascent work-from-home, because it was the one time they could really, consistently get stuff done.

But challenge HR on any of this, and "best practice" and a mark on your own record.

Asking a coworker, very politely and directly, if they could be a bit quieter -- in this case, in fact, when they were engaged in extensive, repeated personal communication of a non-urgent nature (talking with friends, on the phone and in cube visits, sometimes for 2 - 3 hours, day after day) -- and having this come back to you as a formal complaint to and "correction" -- to you -- from HR for your having asked.

Consistently, I observed the loud people "winning" by dint of being loud.

Those top developers were more senior and from a time when the company was smaller and provide private offices. That was how the company attracted and held them, in the first place. They were "vested" in their careers and families and technical debt and, in this technologically conservative area, somewhat "trapped" in their current positions.

Like a frog in the pot, new senior management and HR kept making things more miserable. If remote work hadn't come on the table when it did, I suspect they would have lost more of them in the near future.

As it was, being senior, they were provide this opportunity and had the leverage to use to to escape what was becoming an untenable office environment.

For those stuck at the office, it became a matter of working around "shouting guy", neighbors' cube meetings, and the like. A culture increasingly of interruption, distraction, and superficial attention.

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