Move Your Office to the Library
University students conduct most of their work in libraries, drawn in by the lack of distractions the environment provides. There’s often a feeling of solidarity that develops between participants, making the system work with little outside guidance or control.
Offices should be more like libraries. Since everyone is — at least in theory — working towards a common goal, it should be obvious that interruptions are hurtful. Even if the entire office space cannot be converted into a ‘library’, there should be quiet areas functioning a lot like a library in terms of noise. No phone calls to break your flow, nobody interrupting you with questions that could’ve been sent over email or IM, no hallway chatter affecting you.
