Music While Programming? 1019
BubbaDoom writes "In our cubicle-ville, we have programmers intermixed with accounting, customer support and marketing. As programmers, it is our habit to put on our headphones and listen to our portable music players to drown out all of the noise from everyone else. The boss recently sent an email just to the programmers demanding that we do not use our music players at work because he thinks it distracts us from our jobs and causes us to make mistakes. Of course, we've explained to him that prattle from the other people is much, much more distracting, but he insists his policy is the right one. What is the Slashdot community's experience with music at work for programmers?"
Your boss is... (Score:1, Informative)
Higher than a crack whore after a ship comes into port.
Music to overwhelm the other crap noises in ANY office is not only beneficial, it can be necessary when you hit the zone.
None of his damn beeswax (Score:1, Informative)
Asshole of a boss I have to say. Fine, if other people were getting distracted by the overflow from your headphones it's an issue but otherwise he is being a micromanaging dick.
Re:Fire your boss for overstepping his authority (Score:2, Informative)
Actually, your boss has the right to tell you what you can or can't listen to at work. More importantly, if your boss doesn't want you to do something -- it's not a matter of raging against the machine for your 'human rights'. Either you can perform your job to your superiors' requirements or you can't. If you work somewhere that says what you can or can't listen to, odds are the path that led you there wasn't a happy one to begin with.
You have no right to listen to music, just as you have no privacy in your email.. When someone's paying you to be somewhere to do something -- you do it to their (legal) specifications or they can fire you for not performing. Happily never had that situation myself, but.. in this economy you'd have to be insane to pick a fight over something this trivial.
Do what olden times people did, whistle. If people complain, _whistle in your mind_.
Re:Fire your boss for overstepping his authority (Score:1, Informative)
just as you have no privacy in your email
That is not true and depends on the laws where you work. Around here it is illegal to log/read employee mails if personal use of the internet/mail account has not been explicitly forbidden.
Re:What music? (Score:2, Informative)
Not too expensive, and the custom fit makes them effortless to wear for long periods of times.
Lyrics distract (Score:4, Informative)
I think I read somewhere that music is OK, but lyrics basically have the same effect as chatting people, some part of your brain listens to and interprets the words. Unfortunately that uses language and logic skills that you also need while programming. So, stick to classical and other instrumental music and you should be OK. MUch better than chatting people in the background. Here in Europe, at least we have doors that can be closed :)
Re:Programming without music? (Score:5, Informative)
I've used music at work. Sometimes I've left my headphones on with no music, since they're noise cancelling. It just depends on what mood I'm in. Either way, it removes my outside distractions, and I can focus on my work, rather than idle conversation around me, and random noises. Sometimes, even the noise cancelling headphones by themselves aren't enough to keep the outside distractions away.
Myself, I listen to a good bit of techno/electronica. Something decent and repetitive keeps my rhythm going. But sometimes I listen to classic rock, because I already know all the words and there are no surprises. With the electronica, people have noticed that I type and move (mouse movements, etc) to the rhythm. I guess years of marching band did something for me. :) I can sit for hours on end without stopping with the proper audio environment.
I was told at one place that people knew not to bother me if my headphones were on, because I was concentrating. That was an added bonus. I could work solid on what I needed to, without people coming up asking for a one-off unscheduled task. They'd put it through the normal scheduling channels, so I could take it in turn with all my other tasks.
Re:Programming without music? (Score:5, Informative)
Hahaha.. you're suggesting that you confront your boss with evidence that he made a wrong decision, and that that evidence is your poor work? That might work, but more likely your boss will see "My policy is working, and this jagoff is sandbagging and throwing a tantrum to get his way, so I'll just have a talk about his dropping work quality and tell him we're concerned about his future with the company if it continues. I AM FUCKING GOD HERE!!"!1!!"
yeah, bosses be crazy, yo.
Re:Programming without music? (Score:1, Informative)
If he's so concerned with noise distracting you then he should also provide you with a quiet work environment. Working in cubicles and being forced to listen to the chatter of your coworkers is a huge distraction and the headphones are a reasonable way to to counter this.
Re:music as a distraction? depends (Score:3, Informative)
"Peopleware" (Score:1, Informative)
Give your boss a copy of Demarco & Lister's "Peopleware". Here's what Joel Sposky had to say about it in 2000 (copied from a review on Amazon.com):
By Joel Spolsky (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
As summer interns at Microsoft, my friends and I used to take "field trips" to the company supply room to stock up on school supplies. Among the floppy disks, mouse pads, and post-it notes was a stack of small paperback books, so I took one home to read.
The book was Peopleware, by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. This book was one of the most influential books I've ever read. The best way to describe it would be as an Anti-Dilbert Manifesto.
Ever wonder why everybody at Microsoft gets their own office, with walls and a door that shuts? It's in there. Why do managers give so much leeway to their teams to get things done? That's in there too. Why are there so many jelled SWAT teams at Microsoft that are remarkably productive? Mainly because Bill Gates has built a company full of managers who read Peopleware. I can't recommend this book highly enough. It is the one thing every software manager needs to read... not just once, but once a year.
Re:Programming without music? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Programming without music? Listen Up Cog (Score:3, Informative)
In case you hadn't picked up on it, "Workers of the world, unite!" is a direct quote from the Communist Manifesto. The folks I was referring to were most definitely Communists: The Republican side of the Spanish Civil War, the Red side of the Russian Revolution being the two most prominent examples.