During my first internship when I was 20, I worked for a summer at a medium-sized packaging company to improve their aging order-handling software. Because the

During my first internship when I was 20, I worked for a summer at a medium-sized packaging company to improve their aging order-handling software. Because the floor managers were on the warehouse floor almost the entire day, I took over one of their offices. That summer, I had my own office and it was incredible. Since then, I have worked in cubicles or desks in open-plan offices. Now, almost 10 years later, as a (small) team lead at a relatively prestigious company, I realize that I may never have my own office again in my professional career. This thought is oddly depressing. When I really need to concentrate on a task, I take a portion of the morning and do the task at home, in my home office. I am very aware this is not something most people can do (both because I have the authority to just not come in on a given morning, and because I can afford to have a home office in my own home which is mostly silent). Many on my team do the same thing, possibly accepting that the office is a fundamentally distracting environment. I worry what effects this may have on younger team members who don't have access to a home office. I do see the benefits of open-plan offices (for one, being at work feels less alienating), but I think we may have lost something important in the transition.