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?"
Without music at work there won't be any more programmers, the issue will be moot
Your boss has zero rights to tell you what you can listen to at work. Assert your human rights.
As long as the material isn't disturbing anyone else or offensive to anyone in the work environment, and how could it be if you listen with headphones, you are within your rights to listen to music as you choose.
If they are not satisfied with the quality of the work from the programmers they can address that as an orthogonal issue.
Claw back your rights from your totalitarian fuddy duddy boss. Take no guff from that kind of fool.
Of course, always make sure your professional. For example, when someone approaches your desk to speak to you make sure you pay attention setting aside your music.
You are there to get work done, not be controlled in every aspect of your life.
Your boss is a retard.
Find a way to measure relative productivity, and relative error rates, for before and after you had to stop using music.
Use objective facts to show your boss what a twat he is.
I am a programmer also -
If they said that to me at work I would quit ... as simple as that.
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
I think you should man up and tell your boss that no, he is NOT correct. I think any given person is usually in a better position to know what distracts them.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
For your boss to try to dictate how you work like this is a form of micromanagement which demonstrates distrust.
Brush up your resume, in my experience managers who act in this fashion tend to get worse, not better. Working there is going to be an exercise in frustration. That said, a company is wholly within its rights to expect something like this of you. But by doing so they make themselves less competitive and attractive. Maybe they can get away with that for now, but in doing so they're destroying loyalty and directly contributing to a Dead Sea Effect - when the economy picks up the decent developers are going to evaporate, and the company will be left with a brackish collection of sub-par developers.
As to the original question, I find that the right music selection can really help with my code quality and speed. If I'm really ramped up on what I'm working on, a good fast paced techno, industrial, or otherwise highly rhythmic repetitious and fast paced music can contribute to a mental wave to surf. If I feel like my project pace is overly frenetic, there are too many expectations, and there's just really no way I'll meet all the obligations in the time allowed, something slow and soothing can bring down the blood pressure levels and let me concentrate on my work better.
Slay a dragon... over lunch!
I assume, since he's a boss, that he has a private office ? If that's the case, offer him to come do some cerebral, non-social work (not on the phone, more like writing a report or something) for a half day in one of your cubicles, and judge for himself if he really thinks he wouldn't have worked better being isolated from the chatter.
Stress out to him that it's not like you're buying 10 new CDs a day and listening intently to them while on the company's time, but just whiting out very distracting noises so that you can focus on your job.
Show him how you come to work with your music already chosen, and spend 0 time on it (I can spend hours building a playlist :-p )
Be careful to NOT discuss music with you coworkers for a while, nor visit any music sites...
Try and find examples of companies that he will judge well-run (not geeky nerdy ones, more in his frame of reference - Google, MS... don't count) that do allow music for programmers.
If all that doesn't work, try and work out an agreed playlist / music genre, or just wear earplugs/muffs ? That would suck, though.
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
I need mod points. I predict there is a 99.95% chance that mseeger is spot on. This was the first thing I thought of. For those of you who think "The Man" is just a control freak - he probably couldn't care less if you wear headphones or stuffed bananas in your ears. All he cares about is productivity and his bonus and probably not in that order. If some weenie in another cube is bitching that they can't listen to music because they are tied to a phone and "it's unfair, whaaaaaa" then he'll do whatever he thinks will create the least friction in getting his bonus. Apparently dealing with your programming group bitching about not being able to listen to music is the path of less frustration.
While I agree that music is much less annoying than the noise of other people trying to get their jobs done, sometimes when I'm coding alone in my house I need to crank some Aphex Twin or other discordant mentalism just for a base level of distraction - I find if 10% of my mind is trying not to get distracted it helps the other 90% just get on with the job in hand.
I suppose it's sort of like chewing gum or fiddling with stationary - there's just a bit of your mind dedicated to looking out for tigers, and if you're confident there are no tigers in your office you need to give it something else to do.
Be smart, help people!
When a manager is intimidated by his/her direct reports, they often focus on trivial and insignificant issues. It allows them to boost their egos while exerting their dominance over you without actually making the wrong decision on things that are actually important. And, unless you work for the military, there is a very heavy line drawn between what a manager can and can't tell you to do if it isn't already in your employee handbook. A vegetarian boss couldn't make all his/her employees eat only vegetables at work, the same can be applied to music. Particularly in this case where you've got a tradition of acceptance and so long as it doesn't interfere with anyone's work. You could also throw a passive strike and have everyone call in sick during crunch/deadline time. But that would require a solidarity that most IT folks don't share (unfortunately, as an IT union would rule the world, literally, in about 24 hours).
The biggest problem I have with people wearing headphones is that if you want to ask them just a quick question it involves waving your hands around to gain their attention and then wait for them to take their headphones off. It just hinders communication.
Start making lots of mistakes to prove your point. :-)
I personally find that sometimes, when the right song or songs are on, I get into a groove and do much more work. As for accuracy, its probably about the same. Music more so helps with my productivity.
... it can be necessary when you hit the zone.
Yep! It never ceases to amaze me how the upper echelons of management can be so utterly clueless about how their companies work! Time after time I've worked in places where stupid decisions such as these are made - such as changing from different office space for the Sales/Marketing type folks and the Programmers/Developers to lumping them all in the same open plan office so we can all be "one big team"! 'Cos that's just what I like when I'm trying to code - sales and marketing buffoons talking too damn loud on the 'phone etc! Other 'funny' decisions is stuff like insisting that Programmers/Developers must all wear suits and ties because if you look smart you will work smart. Programmers often have their little foibles and management will ALWAYS be trying to shoe-horn them (us!) into their view of how Programmers should be! It's laughable really - I thought this sort of thing would stop happening once the IT people started to rise up through management and get to the top, but it still seems to be mostly the accountant types who get the top jobs (and they still cut pencils in half to save money!).
Being in The Zone is such a great feeling too, then some numbnuts manager will come over and ask for a progress report and blow it all away!
Eclectic beats from Leeds, UK
handmadehands.co.uk
If the boss makes idiotic decisions that destroy productivity, I think it is reasonable to be insubordinate.
[Without wishing to start a flame war, I've noticed that this blind allegiance to one's boss is very common in America. I have no idea why a people that so value their independence is so supine in the work place.]
As for music while coding, I've found dance music (or anything without lyrics - jazz or classical, but especially high energy dance) helps me concentrate.
--- "We've always been at war with Eastasia."
One of the best moments of my programming career was when my boss came over and said he hated to see me with my feet up and hands interlaced behind my head (the classic 'kicking back' pose). My manager interjected with "right now he is earning the money you pay him".
So rare to get a manager that understands the process.
Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
Assuming that all of the programmers are in agreement, here is what you should do:
Let me emphasize that last point: the problem is not the lack of music. The problem is the noise. The solution you want is a separate room, or else a sound-proof partition in the current room. As you point out, the music is mainly to drown out the chatter. Get rid of the chatter, and the music is a non-issue.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
...and the only conclusion ever reached by sociologists is: "Some do, some don't!"
No sig today...
Sometimes frustration is included in all choices the menu offers. This is why the term "lesser of two evils" was invented. The boss may even hate his own decision but perhaps he just ran out of alternatives. There is still the chance that he was just plain stupid, but from the amount of information available, i would not place any money on that bet.
If the goal is to filter out noise, then the simples solution is to put on your headphones or ear buds and listen to white noise. Your body is programmed to give "attention" to the white noise, and you won't add possible distractions in the form of lyrics, solos... That said, regarding to music everyone is different. If you see a programmer with headphones furiously typing on a code file, it's ok. If you see a programmer with headphones furiously playing an air guitar, on the other hand...
Working to work less.
Forget you. You are not valuable. You are an expense. You are a necessary evil that cuts into the profits. Why do you think the company stock goes up when a bunch of you are laid off? If you were valuable assets, then the company could borrow against your value like it can against inventory and accounts receivable. You could be sold or traded like inventory or the old company car.
Right now there are fifty guys in line for your job. Your manager can replace you with another monkey in clothing faster than you can say "But I like music." IT does not matter what your experience or your skills or education, you are a cog in a machine and when you squeak you get replaced with some less squeaky cog.
That's the nature of companies in our day in age.
Creative Spelling Copyright (2002). May use without Persimmons
How do you feel about listening to sales calls and marketing speak when you're programming?
[John]
Shit better not happen!
How right you are.
The interesting thing is that an environment like that, there are 2 political messages that become a lot more appealing:
1) blame some minority group of people for all your woes: Mexican immigrants, black people, communists, Jews, Muslims, etc. In short, fascism.
2) band together with the other exploited workers to put a stop to oppressive management. Workers of the world, unite! In short, communism.
And when you look for the last time both of those messages really took hold, you get Europe in the early 20th century.
I am officially gone from
If the boss wants to be a dick then throw it back at him with an official ADA request at HR for a reasonable accommodation of a white noise system to block out the office conversations that are triggering your ADD. I've actually worked at places that use white noise systems to create privacy, and the ones that actually work are quite expensive and have to be installed in the entire work area. Add a footnote to the request that if only your dickhead boss would let you use your iPod they wouldn't have to go through the expense.
This is an extreme, and inaccurate oversimplification. There are thousands of unemployed programmers, but honestly most of them are shitty and I would never hire them. During this current downturn we interviewed about 25 developers for an open position and found 2 acceptable candidates.
Plus, you invest a lot of time and effort training someone in how to work at your company with your development process. It takes them time to become familiar with the code they're working on. Employees in general, and coders in particular are not simple cookie cutter replacements and your boss knows this. The average cost to bring a new coder up to speed measures in the 10s of thousands of dollars.
--- It is not the things we do which we regret the most, but the things which we don't do.
True.
You do, I do, and most people here do. But the boss? Nope.
Your typical PHB doesn't even understand that. He'll probably think it means you hired someone who can't type very fast.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Exactly. Very repetitive music that covers much of the spectrum can be seen as a more enjoyable form of pink noise. The effect is to mask all other sounds you receive and to create an environment where no aural cues interrupt your attention. Once your brain has realized it's not going to receive interesting data from your ears it stops wasting focus on interpreting it.
There are very good reasons why people would need this. The "uniform noise environment" point has already been made. One poster noted that tinnitus sufferers need some kind of aural stimulus or they get hit by a distracting high-pitched squeal. Then there's a condition called hyperacusis - the sufferer is overly sensitive to sound, being easily distracted or perceiving sound as too loud earlier than most. A variant of this makes it hard to ignore any sound, even quiet ones - they automatically command the sufferer's attention. You can imagine what this does to the sufferer's concentration when someone nearby talks.
Developers need to dedicate as much mental capacity as possible to a given task, especially since they need to keep many different bits of information in their head at any time. This makes noise insulation a good idea. Noise-dampening headphones (in-ear phones or the big earmuff-types) can reduce reasonable external noise to a point where music or white noise at a sane volume will completely cancel most of it.
If music privileges are to be taken away, I recommend issuing passive noise-canceling gear to focus-oriented workers or installing pink noise generators to provide at least some form of noise suppression.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
The big issue here is the boss' PERCEPTION that developers are not producing at a level he expects or that the code being produced is crappy. The music edict is just a proxy for his real concern. It is critical for you to make sure the boss doesn't have this perception about YOU specifically. If so, you need to either find a way to change the boss' perception of you, or find another job. Most likely the boss' perception is general, and is not based on any real metrics of productivity or quality. What might help is suggesting to the boss how to collect such metrics, and more importantly how to present to his management that his team is very productive and has the highest quality work. It's very likely that the boss is being pressured by his management, so giving him the tools to fight back will help your teams' chance of avoiding the next round of layoffs. This is good for everyone: the boss gets credit, you are adding value, and everyone is aligned with the company's goals.