[beza1e1]

In a larger office, you are usually not paid for being productive. Responding quickly to mails from your boss is probably more effective than focused coding. So don't worry that much.

For the occasional productivity burst: schedule yourself a fake meeting, pick a lonesome place and your laptop, disconnect from instant messengers etc.

[nlawalker]

Bingo. The problem of office interruptions reduces down to priorities and having a boss that understands your work.

Interruptions don't have to be inevitable - there is almost always something you can do to cut yourself off. For me, I could book myself solo into a conference room for 90 minutes, block the time on my calendar, turn off my IM and mail toast, put earphones in and work.

If the concern is that you can't do this - that you'll get in trouble or won't be meeting expectations - either your priorities are out of order relative to what your boss/organization thinks they should be, or your boss/organization isn't convinced that cutting yourself off to do solitary work adds any value. One could argue that a really good boss would understand it already, but we don't always get really good bosses - if your boss isn't already convinced and you don't want to do the work to convince them, I suppose the answer is to either put up with it or leave.

[yabai]

This is a great point. In most larger office settings, you are expected to wear many hats and respond quickly to issues that arise throughout the day.

When I need to really focus on something, I leave my cubicle and sneak away with a laptop to an empty conference room. This is the only way for me to work uninterrupted.