[SnowProblem]

Alternatively come in early or stay late. Joel did get it right. Open spaces are fine for light tasks but a huge drain on deep thinking.

[Tao3300]

Don't even suggest that. Someone might see this.

[mywittyname]

Why not both?

[wombatpm]

I had a boss who was a VP in sales. His philosophy was "On the days I go in late, I make up for it by leaving early".

[CoastalCoder]

I'm guessing that sales is pretty different from typical software dev, in the sense that sales productivity is very measurable.

That probably sidesteps a lot of the guesswork about what makes a person most productive.

[SoftTalker]

Yes and if you're hitting or exceeding your sales goals, your boss won't care how much you are in the office. For at least some sales work, a substantial portion of it may take place outside of the office anyway.

[pc86]

This is pretty consistent with my experience with both salespeople and VPs regardless of department.