Dr. Greg is spot on, I need the music in the background to get things moving in my head. I do however hate the headphones at work, something Adam discussed recently in a mail out he does. with headphones on I cant hear what other people are saying or get involved in helping people solve problems. Someone wearing headphones is signalling they do not want to be disturbed.
I like to work in an open studio environment where the music is a background hum that motivates and gets me thinking. Noise around me has never been an issue and I like to work in an environemtn where there is a buzz of activity.
There are some in this industry that believe software should be written in quiet rooms, behind closed doors and in total silence. I dont work that way.
As many of you know I advocate pair programming, it is an awesome way to deliver high quality software and have fun at the same time. There is a condition I have discovered needs to exist before pair programming works well. The two individuals involved need to be aligned. Their goals have to match. I will take this further and say the best products are created by teams where all the members are sligned in their goals.

How do you work?

Do you listen to music or Podcasts while you work?

Is your team aligned?