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Comment by dzhiurgis | Hacker News Reader

How do you get distracted in the open office?

Someone talking loud or having their phone ringer on? That's just shitty office manners, plus you can grab ANC headphones when you really wanna focus. Which also gives a good signal to not disturb to others.

The only distraction I used to get is colleagues asking for help which always felt super nice to do.

I'm 3 weeks working from home and yes, it's great not having to slouch to the office every morning with the associated food/coffee/shower/dress-up/transport routine. But I do kinda miss people a bit and procrastination is thru the roof.

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We don't have even the moderate height cube walls between people -- you're just staring at them all day over screens.

I get pretty much constantly distracted if I'm looking at another desk instead of the wall: I have a very hard time ignoring people moving, so looking out into a room full of people means I'm constantly looking around and alert to the environment as people shift, have people stop by, etc. It's not the noise that gets me, even with headphones off, it's the constant motion in my field of view.

Someone talking loud or having their ringer on? That’s every open office I’ve ever seen.

Headphones to minimize distractions? Distractions aren’t just sounds, but motion. Having people constantly walk into your frame of view is hella distracting. Our super hot graphics designer used to walk to the printer in front of my desk hourly. I did not want to look at her, I tried not to look at her, I couldn’t help looking at her and never was able to get back to my hard problems until she left.

Someone needs help? I’m always glad to assist, but in an open office I have to help right then, my train of thought is already lost. I my private office I can check Slack after I’ve solved the hard problem and have some breathing space, and I’m happy to amble to their office for a little pair programming.

Distractions are killer not just to productivity, but to quality. Being able to focus on all the possible code paths and solve the problem the best, most optimal way requires quiet time.

Even music is a known impediment to deep thinking, which is why headphones are suboptimal, even while they are they best option in a bad open floor plan environment.

I can't work with headphones on, and I get distracted by people talking, or by walking by me, or almost anything else. I find it far more effective to work at home. As noted previously, everyone is different.

The best experience I had was when I was able to go into the office when I wanted to, but work from home other times. I wound up going in 1-2 times per week to meet with people. It was fantastic.

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