At Segment, focus is one of our four core values. But it was difficult for team members to focus in the office, so in June we ran an internal team survey about what helps and hurts focus. The results showed that “chatter and noise” was one of the biggest culprits for distraction around the office. “Slack group channels” came in second.

These answers left us with two difficult questions: how do you solve a noise problem in an open floor plan? And where is the noise even coming from?

To get to the bottom of it, I decided to build an iOS app to collect decibel levels from around the office. We found that noise levels varied widely throughout the office, and using the new data, we changed the office layout to increase our ability to focus. Numerically speaking, the increased focused time (as measured by survey) has been equivalent to hiring 10–15 teammates. And beyond the numbers, it feels great to focus more.