Music While Programming?

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...

[Anonymous Coward]

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

[Anonymous Coward]

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

[synthesizerpatel]

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

[Anonymous Coward]

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?

[gander666]

If you are going to do that, you should go to an Audiologist, and get custom fit earplugs. I have a couple of pairs, one for motorcycle riding which blocks about 90% of the sound (and are most helpful for sleeping in LOUD hotel rooms) and a set of musicians ear plugs for when i am playing guitar with friends.

Not too expensive, and the custom fit makes them effortless to wear for long periods of times.

Lyrics distract

[Xenna]

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?

[JWSmythe]

    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?

[Kreigaffe]

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?

[Anonymous Coward]

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

[slarrg]

I often find myself slapping on headphones even when I'm not listening to music to keep people from randomly popping into my cubicle to talk about meaningless drivel which is the most distracting thing. When I do listen to music, I prefer something that moves quickly without distracting vocals. Look, good programmers are exceedingly good at optimizing their own productivity and do not need bosses who've read the study du jour and decided that they know what's happening inside the heads of their programmers. The current study was conducted with pop music which any programmer would already have told you is too distracting for them. Of course there were the previous studies that showed classical music increased memory and cognition in students which the marketing wonks decide it made babies into Einstein even though the study did not apply to babies nor were the effects long-lasting. If you want the project done, you can at least allow me to manipulate the environment surrounding my own head since I have much more experience in achieving my own highest productivity than any manager ever will.

"Peopleware"

[Anonymous Coward]

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?

[bzipitidoo]

I'd take a softer line. Don't quit, at least until you have another job lined up, and until you see how your boss handles a tiny bit of low grade defiance. Just ignore the directive and keep listening to music. Dare the boss to fire you if he's that anal about it, and be prepared in case that does happen. More often the boss will growl and froth and foam about insubordination, maybe make a few threats, and finally, grudgingly let the issue drop, without admitting that he let it drop or was in any way wrong. If you reach this point, DON'T rub it in, heck don't even so much as remind anyone that you made the boss back down, and don't start feeling like you can push him around on a host of other issues. And you still have to watch your back. If the Man shows by his behavior that he won't forgive and forget, that he continues to feel humiliation and anger and won't get over it, then, yes, time to move on.

Re:Programming without music? Listen Up Cog

[dkleinsc]

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.