It was not until my iPod broke that I realized how dependent I was on music to efficiently concentrate while in the office environment.

First off, apparently an iPod can’t withstand a good hard drop on the sidewalk – who would have guessed. “Such as life“, I thought to myself and continued my day, but when I reached the office I started to notice just how different the day was going to be.

Normally I am completely oblivious to things happening around me as my Skull Candy headphones drown out any office noise. But today, I was very aware of many things that distracted me to no end. Here a few things you might consider for being a little more courteous to your office workers.

Ringer Volumes – Seriously people, you sit right next to your phone. It flashes a red light when someone calls. Is it necessary to have the ringer at the loudest volume?

Cell Phones – If you leave your desk, take your damn phone with you. People seem to know when you don’t have your phone, and as a result they call you. When you don’t answer, they call you a second time just to make sure. If I have to listen to the Dukes of Hazard theme song one more time…

Lazy Yelling – Do not sit in your chair like a lazy lump and attempt to converse by yelling across 3 cubicles. Get up, and go talk to the person. On a blue moon, I have been guilty of this but I am now reformed.

Speaker Phone – Occasionally, meeting rooms are full and conference calls end up occurring in the cubicle – I can understand that. Please keep these to a minimum, and if there is any love in the world do not use speaker phone if you are the only one on the call.

Laughter – It’s cool to work in a fun company, but sometimes the laughter gets out of hand and it goes to 11. Learn to keep some laughter on the inside – the YouTube video I just emailed wasn’t that funny.

Because I love my co-workers, I forgive them. Now it is time to go get a new iPod so I can forget them.

• Writing Maintainable Code – Does writing maintainable code mean writing the best code you can or writing code with technology your successors can understand? Good thought stuff by Paul Bourdeaux.
• The Worst Type of Project Manager – If you have ever had a Project Manager that has allowed shit to roll down hill onto you, this is a great read that will boost your spirits and hope.
• That’s Hot Code – Great tips on how you can write ‘hot’ code.
• For Want of a Nail – Think that broken unit test is trivial? It has larger ramifications than you think.
• Design By Metaphor – If a client says he wants his new auction site to be “like eBay,” what does that mean? An artist hears “It has a tacky color scheme.” A developer hears “It’s scalable to 20 million users.” A user hears “It has feedback ratings on all sellers.”
• On Software Teams – Jeremy amends his Programming Manifesto with rules that teams should live by.

If have a great link or article, send it in!

Situations where the need to force change in your environment are not done easily as I described in the series – Your Software Process Sucks. One method for creating change I neglected is the “just do it – ask for forgiveness, not for permission” method. Although this method can yield great results, it can also be a dangerous pitfall if your changes backfire.

Instead of going behind your team’s back, Steve Rowe had a great idea of how to tactfully get approval. To summarize his idea, ask for permission in a way that silence implies acceptance:

On the issue at hand, I recommend taking the following actions. If I don’t hear from you by such and such a date, I’ll move ahead with my recommendations.

This is a great idea when dealing with a resistance to change and definitely deserves the in-depth read.