I'm an extrovert, and I hate open plans. Sometimes I feel being an extrovert makes it worse, as I get tangled up in conversations. It's still good and important to have conversations, but we just have them in the hallway, or visit our offices. That way you can go back.

You can be an extrovert and also hate open plans because they are incredibly distracting 90% of the time.

You can also be an introvert with good “distraction management” skills who prefers an open office.

I love how in open plans everyone is attempting to shut out the rest of the space using headphones. That was the only way I could concentrate. At that point you've isolated yourself that you might as well be in a more isolated workspace.

Not to mention that a lot of introverts self select for jobs like programming, engineering etc...

Meanwhile the majority of people, and certainly the majority of the executives and sales guys, are extraverts and simply can't understand why programmers hate open plan.

Also I think there is an asymmetry.

I think introverts can easily 'get' what extraverts prefer, because honestly extraverts are the majority[1], so when you are an introvert, you get to know extraverts pretty well because you live in an extravert world.

I don't think the reverse is true. Extraverts don't 'get' what introverts like because they don't have to, they are the majority and their preferences dictate how everything is built. Their preferences are the default, and are what is considered 'right.'

[1] They used to say the split was 75% extravert/25% introvert. Later studies report a 50/50 split but extraverts are more outgoing and vocal, so they may still be overrepresented in public debate/discourse.