> If I have my headphones in, I'm busy. If I don't, I can answer questions or talk to my colleagues about something.
This comes up every time people discuss open floor plans. Inevitably someone says that the solution is headphones. Except that a lot of people don't want to wear headphones all the time. I find it uncomfortable, and I also find that music significantly reduces my productivity (unless I'm doing something that doesn't require any meaningful amount of thought). A number of studies have shown the same thing. Listening to music while working decreases mental power.
The article also covered this:
But the most problematic aspect of the open office may be physical rather
than psychological: simple noise. In laboratory settings, noise has been
repeatedly tied to reduced cognitive performance. The psychologist Nick
Perham, who studies the effect of sound on how we think, has found that
office commotion impairs workers’ ability to recall information, and even
to do basic arithmetic. Listening to music to block out the office
intrusion doesn’t help: even that, Perham found, impairs our mental acuity.
> I can't help feeling that younger people such as myself
I don't think you're as much different as you imagine. Young people don't work in drastically different ways than older people.
I'm with you... headphones are not comfortable. I've tried all sorts to either listen to music with or to just block out the noise and after a while they are almost as distracting as the noise.
With the wonderful weather we've had in the Midwest this past week I've been working from home and I have realized how much I hate our office setup. I'm very much dreading going into the office tomorrow.
True, but this doesn't fix the comfort factor. It also doesn't change that headphones are just a bandaid for the core issues which are excessive distraction and ambient noise.
I think the culture of the office matters, too. If there's a culture, of, "Hey people are working here let's not be loud." and "She has her headphones in so let's not bother her." then it won't be too distracting or have too much noise.
Conversely, if an office with a closed office plan has a culture where closed doors are common and it's rude to knock, then collaboration will definitely be hindered.
We need to collaborate and to work in peace and quiet. This is probably why it oscillates between open and closed office plans. Neither solution is perfect. The best solution is probably default closed offices with a culture of having your door open and lots of collaborating spaces that are actually used.
> The best solution is probably default closed offices with a culture of having your door open and lots of collaborating spaces that are actually used.
This is what I have right now at Microsoft and it's awesome. Everyone on my team has a private office, and we have plenty of collaboration spaces, including conference rooms as well as less formal gathering spaces between blocks of offices and near the food areas, plus a few large open areas dedicated for meetings (these are more isolated from offices, and generally used like conference rooms, but open to the hallways, with curtains that can be used to isolate a bit more).
This comes up every time people discuss open floor plans. Inevitably someone says that the solution is headphones. Except that a lot of people don't want to wear headphones all the time. I find it uncomfortable, and I also find that music significantly reduces my productivity (unless I'm doing something that doesn't require any meaningful amount of thought). A number of studies have shown the same thing. Listening to music while working decreases mental power.
The article also covered this:
> I can't help feeling that younger people such as myselfI don't think you're as much different as you imagine. Young people don't work in drastically different ways than older people.