The company I work for has open plan offices — it's a US company with multiple offices worldwide. The specific one I work from is small, and devs and non-devs a

The company I work for has open plan offices — it's a US company with multiple offices worldwide. The specific one I work from is small, and devs and non-devs are _mixed_ together. Whenever I tried to bring up noise-related issues and made specific proposals, I felt I was ignored because of a) clash of cultures (non-devs might not understand/value "being in the zone" [1]), b) spending money in sound-proofing is seen as a cost, not an investment. What worries me the most is that in the course of a few years I haven't heard any internal voices putting open plan offices in doubt. This office layout looks to be seen as a good default with problems that are either ignored or that people have to learn to live with. So I wonder if the situation is similar in other companies with open plan offices, and whether people see there's any trend to question the given default or not. [1] https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/19/where-do-these-people-get-their-unoriginal-ideas/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/19/where-do-these-peo...