Life Hacks for Getting S#!t Done in an Open Plan Office

Long, long gone are the days of every worker having their own cubicle, if not office to work in. Yes, collaboration is great, office relationships are probably better than they've ever been (depending on how much you like the people you share your space with). and studies show that it could even improve employee health. Yet, as with everything in life, there's a definite downside, the big one being the extra distractions causing a lack of focus and productivity, something I often feel in my own open plan office. I've been trying out a few things and have found the below three to be the most effective.

Creating Ambient Noise

We're human and by definition of that, we're social beings, and inevitably when you stick a bunch of us in a room together and there's complete silence, we have a compelling need to fill that silence. The easiest way to combat this, is to play some music that will either fill that silence for you, or even drown out some of the annoying office related sounds. Most Industrial Psychologists suggest that you avoid music that you're too familiar with or that has lyrics as this subconsciously takes up space in your brain. Apple Music has some awesome "Focus" playlists which I personally love working to (I particularly enjoy the Pure Focus), but it doesn't work for everyone. Many of my team mates get distracted by how annoying the music is to them, so rather find something that works for you. If you like, take it one step further by using the universal sign "for I'm busy, please don't disturb me" and listen to your choice of music through headphones.

Time Management Techniques

There are quite a few theories on the balance between pure focus and taking a break, but the most widely accepted one and one that I have found most effective is without a doubt the Pomodoro Technique. This technique developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s, divides your time into 25 focus minutes with a 5 minute break. Start your day by prioritising your tasks and allocating 25 minute slots to break them up to, then you're ready to start Pomodoro! Not only does this give you more structure, and a guideline of focus, but that 5 minute break feels like a cool little reward to work towards. Google Chrome has an awesome extension to get you started. (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/strict-workflow/cgmnfnmlficgeijcalkgnnkigkefkbhd) At first, the 25 minutes might seem to take forever (especially because it blocks common distracting websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterst, oh Pinterest...), but before you know it, you're focus will have improved so much that you will find yourself working through your break phase without realising it.

Create Work Specific Areas

A big reason for open plan offices is to promote collaboration in teams, but this is often something that causes the most disruption and distraction. It sounds really simple, but creating different spaces, for different tasks immediately sets the tone for a task and helps get everyone in the right head space. When it's time to collaborate, get the team around a big table, or to sit in a circle in a bigger open area. When it's time to concentrate, have everyone at their own desks which they should create into their own space. For fun time, move into a more fun area. That way as soon as you move into certain spaces your team will immediately associate the space with the task at hand.

Working in a small team in an open plan offices means we're a really close team, which is super awesome, but we do easily fall into the pitfall of being super distracting to one another. These are the tactics that I've found work best, bet if you have any ones that work for you I'd love for you to comment below so that I can give them a shot!