I don't really see how that headphone rule could work in practice. Wouldn't everybody just be wearing headphones all the time, except when they stand up to have

I don't really see how that headphone rule could work in practice. Wouldn't everybody just be wearing headphones all the time, except when they stand up to have a break and socialize? Or do people consciously segment their time into slots where they actually want to be disturbed while sitting by their computer? Personally I don't even like to wear headphones in the office, because then people will sneak up from behind and scare you. Like someone said here, there's a lot of emotional and social factors that are disturbing your flow, not just the obvious audible and visible distractions. IMHO, the optimal office should make it harder to socialize, by giving each person a real sense of privacy and immunity while working. But when you want to socialize, the office should make that easy by providing the related facilities and relative proximity of people.