I'm not sure it has anything to do with empathy. You can empathize with somebody else's need to either work alone or work with other people, but that doesn't re

I'm not sure it has anything to do with empathy. You can empathize with somebody else's need to either work alone or work with other people, but that doesn't really change anything. Pair programmers still need people to talk to and no matter how quiet they are they will always hamper the efforts of those who need silence. Something that doesn't often get mentioned is it also works the other way around: if the quiet programmers exert their influence over the open office so it's quiet, that hampers the efforts of those who need to verbalize to think. The "oppression" goes both ways. I'm not naive. I don't think companies will ever go back to individual offices for everyone. But putting a soundproof barrier down the center of a bullpen is doable. One side is for the loud folks, the other for the quiet ones. Everyone can hop from one side to the other as needed.