In terms of work management, the 'work area' system makes things much easier than some games of this type.
Only five notifications appear at once and they vanish quite quickly when there's a lot going on, and sometimes the same issue will appear twice in this list if you don't solve it quickly enough. While this allows you to manage some things easily, there are limits. Issues with your settlement are flagged up by these notifications in the bottom left of your screen. I haven’t noticed any change in music if danger approaches, which would be nice for now there is just a brief notification noise which can be easy to miss.
The music is mostly soft and light, adding a background which is relaxing rather than distracting.
