It is too quiet in the office

Friday, December 15. 2006

During the company briefing, some of the employees pointed out that our office is too quiet. Amusingly, those who raised that concern are those who talk the less in the office.
The article by Steve Yegge about practical programming inspired me for writing this entry, he said:

Unlike the NFL, programming is a profession for which practicing is usually most effective if you do it alone, or at most with one other person. It requires quiet concentration and deep thinking, and you absolutely must solve the problems yourself, rather than just seeing the solution done for you. So even if we wanted to set up organized daily practice, most of it would be spent reading or programming quietly

I like the statements "requires quiet concentration" and "must solve the problems yourself" a lot.

Back to the silent office topic, personally I think a tranquil work space is especially important for software development. In contrast, the places which requires noises are meeting room, discussion table, pantry and so on.

Posted by Steven Yong in non-computer at 16:54 | Comments (14) | Trackback (1)

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quite or quiet ?

#1 kokwai (Homepage) on 2006-12-15 17:45 (Reply)

Yea.. typo there-la my friend...

I would always like a bit of noise in the office especially when it comes from a heated discussion on technology.

Are you sure the office is quiet but then "busy" over the chat & IM lines? HEHEHE... We M'sians can't live w/o chat and we tend to chat over IM to convey ideas. Its very apparent in my office.

However, I have a few colleagues who are very quiet. They don't express ideas and such, sometimes when we talk about "old" tech, the guy is shocked to learn that there is such a thing. Communication is important, it is the way we humans as a species managed to dominate the earth. Kekekee...

So, there must be a balance. While we all like to work in isolation, we also need to exchange ideas to grow in our skills and creativity.

#2 Angie Tan (Homepage) on 2006-12-15 18:20 (Reply)

typo corrected, thanks for pointing out, embarrass to tell I thought it was correct

#3 steven (Homepage) on 2006-12-15 23:58 (Reply)

Am I too quiet?

#4 Gary (Homepage) on 2006-12-16 17:43 (Reply)

No, no, no..... Gary. The office without you is like a Library.

#5 martina on 2006-12-20 08:56 (Reply)

without Gary like a library, with Gary like a pasar malam

#5.1 Anonymous on 2006-12-20 22:37 (Reply)

Nevermind... You can get Pasar Malam only in Malaysia, means that I'm precious....

#5.1.1 Gary (Homepage) on 2006-12-21 00:15 (Reply)

"personally I think a tranquil work space is especially important for software development. In contrast, the places which requires noises are meeting room, discussion table, pantry and so on"

That means u are "old" thinking nowadays...

#6 Anonymous on 2006-12-21 14:09 (Reply)

i bet you are not working in software development industry

#6.1 steven (Homepage) on 2006-12-21 14:20 (Reply)

I m definitely working in IT industry. why discussion must be in meeting room or at discussion table?? why chatting only can be in pantry or other places?? i guess your life must be boring, because u like to "STEP BY STEP"

I like to chat/discuss with my colleague during working...& i dont think so it will be effect my perfomance, unless you are chatting none stop without working.

#7 Anonymous on 2006-12-21 15:10 (Reply)

more precious, i bet you are not a software developer. in a way you are right, i'm a step-by-step guy, while you're enjoying chatting, please make sure those who're scratching their head trying to concentrate on their problems could tolerate seeing/listening to your chatting

#8 steven (Homepage) on 2006-12-21 15:16 (Reply)

It is the way how you chatting/discussing with your colleagues... nobody call you to raise out your voice like pasar malam to disturb others ppl.

#9 Anonymous on 2006-12-21 15:27 (Reply)

thanks, looks like I will have to adjust myself for this new era

#9.1 steven (Homepage) on 2006-12-22 17:28 (Reply)

Wow....... Steven, this topic got a lot of comments.......

#10 martina on 2006-12-22 09:37 (Reply)

half of them are from myself

#10.1 steven (Homepage) on 2006-12-22 17:27 (Reply)

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