Lately I have been thinking about my work environment.  On Friday I was trying to focus on something and although I was largely unbothered, I continual had people walking around me, heard people have conversations, heard phones ringing.  Tons of things to take my focus.

Office settings tend to not work for programmers.  It’s too easy for somebody to come ask them a question or call their extension and ruin the last and next 15 minutes of focus for that.

Working alone seems like a good  idea.  I have tried it a few times.  It’s cool, but at times lonely.  And you can’t throw ideas off each other like you can in a group setting.

Large groups have never worked for me, usally to unorganized and you spend too much time with analysis paralysis.

What works for me is a small ground, 2 to 4 people in a place where people can’t interrupt them.  The small group is easy to organize, quick to get working.  It’s nice to be able to talk with someone to bounce ideas off of them from time to time.  I really like the library reading room, it’s quiet enough, but you can talk softly if you need to, but you should not need to talk too much.