[kevinmchugh]

Does your office culture respect headphones as a request to not be interrupted? Hunting earmuffs are useful if you don't want to actually listen to music. I've used http://smile.amazon.com/3M-Peltor-H10A-Optime-Earmuff/dp/B00... off and on for almost 3.5 years and they're comfortable for hours at a time and block most noise very effectively.

[analog31]

Right now my office culture respects pretty much nothing. Mine is the second work group to have an open plan, ever. The open plan was chosen for us because Collaboration [1]. So, we are the pioneers. My boss is sympathetic about this, but we are both treading the political waters carefully. When the entourage of managers brings an Executive through the facility on the obligatory inspection tour, they always come down my hallway and are shown the Open Collaboration Area. It has been declared to be a success, by default.

Don't get me wrong, I'm quite happy about my job, and have places where I can go when I need to think. I use my "office" as a lab.

[1] The open plan seems to work for some kinds of collaboration and not other kinds. It's great for social interaction, brainstorming, and quickly getting help. I think it's helped the newer employees come up to speed and develop internal networks more quickly.

It doesn't work for more substantive collaboration, especially crossing multiple departments and work sites, because many kinds of discussions can't be conducted in front of an audience.

Chatting with managers, I've noticed a strong misconception, that manager work needs private offices, and engineer work doesn't.