In the section on factors that slow our productivity I gave a whole chapter to radio but said nothing about music. Unlike radio, I'll give music a chance to coexist with us.
I've come across very different views: some say music helps and stimulates their work, others say they can't work with music. For example, Robert Martin (the well-known programmer and programming populariser) doesn't write code with music, and I don't write this book while listening to music. But I often do write code with music on, and in general it's playing a lot of the time. It's all very individual and depends both on the person and on what they're doing. In some cases music really can help you get into the work and screen out distractions like noise from the neighbours' kids; others want to be fully aware of what they're doing and how. So I'd put music in both the favourable and the unfavourable camp. You need to work out for yourself when it helps and when it distracts.
