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I feel more comfortable with a certain amount of 'background' noise, such as quiet chatter or music that I know very well. Whether me being comfortable is the same as me being productive has not been experimentally verified :)
Of course, even 'background' noise can be disruptive; I can hear the word 'documentation' being whispered from the other side of the office, at which point I tend to do a great imitation of a hibernating bear emerging from its cave.
Sarah Blake
Technical Writer
Arieso Ltd
Office +44 (0) 1635 232470 | Fax +44 (0) 1635 232471 |
Email sarah -dot- blake -at- arieso -dot- com | Web www.arieso.com |
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sarah -dot- blake=arieso -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sarah -dot- blake=arieso -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Editor in Chief
Sent: 26 February 2013 17:11
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com >> TECHWR-L
Subject: Workplace aural accompaniment (was RE: Telecommuting ...)
Hmm.
In a noisy environment, my productivity plummets.
It occurs to me to wonder how many people on this list prefer real quiet, how many prefer noisy surroundings, with several conversations going on all the time, AND how many need a sound-track (i.e., wear a music machine all
day) versus those who find music (especially music with lyrics) annoying/distracting, too.
Has there been a Techwhirl poll/survey on whether we prefer to work with music blasting in our ears or with blessed hushedness?
I don't know about the rest of you but, aside from some tasks involving graphics, I don't have very many mindless tasks in my techwriting day. If I'm trying to do a task that requires concentration or originality, noise is a hindrance. Music is no more welcome than a yappy neighbor dog (Kill the doglet, kill the doglet, kill the DOGlet!...[sung to the tune of "Kill the wabbit"]) or some chatterbox going on about wedding plans or gossip or weekend activities or what they had for lunch, etc.
And... let's get this out in the open... anybody playing rap near me when I'm sweating a deadline is asking... nay, demanding... to play a brief starring role in a homicide. Well, maybe that should rightfully be a "pesticide"? Vermicide ? Disinfection?
No court in the land would.... etc., etc. :-)
On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 2:49 PM, Cardimon, Craig <ccardimon -at- m-s-g -dot- com>
wrote:
> Agreed. Yahoo could have done a more surgically precise removal of
> telecommuting. One done with a scalpel rather than with a butcher knife.
>
> Quiet is good, but it's a rare commodity. One of the many reasons I'm
> glad I got used to working in chaotic and noisy newsrooms in my younger years.
>
> --
__o
_`\<,_
(*)/ (*)
Don't go away. We'll be right back.
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