My tech company had a space called "the library" for "those times when you need to do deep focus work." There were several thousand engineers in the building. T

My tech company had a space called "the library" for "those times when you need to do deep focus work." There were several thousand engineers in the building. The library could seat maybe 15. No monitors, no outlets. Even when they come tantalizingly close to understanding, the idea is just so foreign to them, that most engineers should be focusing most of the time and that our elaborate monitor and keyboard setups are part of focus work. Meanwhile out on the floor I have tried to (politely) call people out for e.g. having Zoom standup participants on full blast in the middle of the sea of desks. They shrugged and said, "it's an open office. You can wear headphones." This company prided itself on empowering engineers, providing them with the tools and resources to do their best work, and in some ways lived up to that. But the way we made it a totally individual burden to jam the noise or seek refuge elsewhere really undermined it.