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Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

Get a pair of good headphones.

Some people prefer a quiet environment versus listening to something, even if that's white noise. So, while getting a good pair of headphones is great for those who like having some auditory stimulation while they work, it just doesn't compare to having a quiet office if that's how you work best.

There is basically no such thing as "quiet environment", unless it's a library. There will be some noise from the neighbors, from the street or whatever. I find that I can tune out easily enough if the noise is beyond my control. If, on the other hand, it's someone whom I can ask to keep it down (but would rather not to), then noise cancelling headphones is the best option there is.

Ok, you're getting into semantics now. I think most people reading that would understand what I mean when I say a quiet environment, especially vs a library where the only sounds tend to be the information desk, the hum of computer fans, photocopiers and the heating/cooling system.

The quiet environment I was describing can be found in an office where the majority of people are heads-down working and not on the phone. This is harder to find when you're in an office that's setup as a cube-farm or an open layout. But this can be easily found at the beginning or end of the day and especially on work days that bookend holidays or three day weekends - days that lots of people typically take vacation. Those are the times when I find I get my best work done because it is the closest to quiet and distraction-free that one can find, other than working remotely where you can control the environment.

Do you sleep with headphones on? If not--there you go, quiet environment.

....and then you're sitting there working while loud, open-plan loving boss is having an impromptu with a few people in the middle of the floor, you catch his eye a few times and take off the 'phones to see what's up, and it's nothing of your concern. Many times the difference is simply a people problem.

I've literally worn noise-canceling earbuds inside of over-ear Beyerdynamics to keep the noise out and ensure that people can see that I am distracted/not listening/not available, but if someone really wants to hang over your cube wall to try to have a conversation with you instead of just emailing you, nothing stops them and it's considered rude to suggest anything otherwise. That's the reason we have an open floorplan to begin with; the company's attitude is that everyone is available at all times. To non-technical staff, it's "faster" for them to walk up to us than it is to write it out. It's also worth mentioning that headphones were outright banned from the office for this reason, but slowly the creative departments have taken to ignoring it.

As far as the "go-to" person people have noted having above, everyone on my team works on different aspects of what we do, so no one person can answer every question. Our PM is also not super familiar with what those roles are nor are they technically competent enough to answer those questions on their own (as of now, anyway).

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