I've tried having this conversation so many times at my current place! We don't just have an open plan office, we have a huge open plan office with a mix of developers, client facing staff, managers, secretaries, phones going off, people wandering through to the kitchen or toilets, small meetings going on around tables.... It's a terrible work environment for actually getting to focus on what you're doing, yet any suggestion that we might do better with more secluded, private space is met with ridicule.
A new head honcho is not long in post, and has decided to make his mark by moving the entire department into newly refurbished offices at a cost I understand that's about equal to 3 months salary per head. The plan is for long rows of desks so we'll have even higher density and less private space. I'm not optimistic for its effects on the department.
I just quit my job over a similar issue. I was doing tech support and repair work but the bosses insisted on having all of us do everything with no division of responsibility. So out of a 9 hour day of constant interruption answering the phone and front desk, I got maybe 1 or 2 hours of repair work done.
I finally realized that I can make more money freelancing on my own, since they charged $99/hr but only paid $15/hr. The levels of inefficiency at that job were staggering, and I muddled through for 3 years.
Now I am living the dream coding on my own and don't look back. The funny thing is, based on my pay stubs and commission, I know I was making them on the order of $100,000 per year. They only acted like they wanted me around...the day I gave notice.
If your employer doesn't understand these concepts, then you may have to think about finding other work with people who are more at your level. You won't regret it.
I work in an open plan office as well... And it is a mix of client facing staff and developers. For them it works really well. Not so much for us devs. Sennheiser CX300-B's are a real life saver. I tend to listen to Daft Punk or other music that I know really well (with the general exception of classical). I have found that brown noise also works very well.
I've got the music and some reasonable headphones, but I still find it pretty poor. Partly because an iPod on shuffle really isn't very good for filtration unless you set up a lot of enormously long and specific playlists and that takes forever!
For someone else who asked about HH's desk location - yes, he actually moved from his precessor's private office into the bearpit. However he spends so long in meetings that he's very rarely at his desk. Which also helps to explain the new 'clear desk' policy that will leave the office looking immaculately tidy overnight for the cleaners, security and any burglars ;-)
It's even worse if, like me, you're diagnosed with adult ADD. Something that would take me 5-20 minutes in a quiet environment can easily take me a half day in a distraction-prone open office environment.
A new head honcho is not long in post, and has decided to make his mark by moving the entire department into newly refurbished offices at a cost I understand that's about equal to 3 months salary per head. The plan is for long rows of desks so we'll have even higher density and less private space. I'm not optimistic for its effects on the department.