I couldn't agree more. This article also sums up a developer's thought processes nicely , contains a lot of common sense and reflects my experience in open-plan office hell. Acoustics are dreadful, so conversations 20 feet away are clearly audible and intrusive. Not to mention my cackling boss who sits next to me and bellows into her headset when having a conversation. Even with noise-isolating in-ear headphones, I can still hear her unless I play loud rock music, which itself doesn't help concentration. On top of that, we also have Communicator but I am almost permanently on DND status, which helps. But then people with team access level can still interrupt because they see your status as "Urgent Interruptions Only" and proceed to interrupt with non-urgent queries which begin "Hi, sorry to interrupt but..." :mad: The days when I'm able to work at home are bliss, when the only distraction is the irritating noise of the fan of an HP6910 laptop, so even then I sometimes put on the headphones!