Slashdot Mirror
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?"
You had crack that good and didn't share? Bastard!
The economy being what it is lately, employees are worth next to nothing to a company unless they have extremely difficult to replace skills. As to social value, companies tend to not give a happy damn about social value; they mostly prefer actual value. Stop smoking the union pole and look at things from management's perspective once in a while, you'll sound like less of a tool.
Original question: Take the headphones off until you have a good argument to present for reinstating them.
Violence is like duct tape. If it doesn't solve the problem, you didn't use enough.
You would do well not to use ultimatums with this type of boss, as he/she/it seemingly is incompetent, and seems to be the old school type of manager, eg. 'my way or the highway'.
He/she/it WILL see that as a challenge to he/she/it's authority.
Basic sociology suggests, and i mean basic as in sociology 101 for toddlers, that it's very individual, some consentrates better with music, some don't.
forcing conformity on individual contributors is the easy out from a management viewpoint, but is moronic from a productivity perspective.
On my desk there's a pair of headphones, and a pair of earplugs. no cubicle farm, but open offices with about 30 persons to the office, and ample of elbowroom.
~men are from earth. women are from earth. deal with it.~