Sounds effective but weird. Maybe just go to a coffee shop.
I let a stranger watch me work for a day and I've never been more productive
11–20 of 179 posts
Re: I let a stranger watch me work for a day and I've never been more productive
#12Anybody else get an immediately negative visceral reaction from this? If I'm understanding this correctly, the aim is to manipulate our sense of shame/guilt to boost productivity. After sitting with the feeling for a bit, here are some ideas that come to mind: 1. Maybe we should ask why we feel shame/guilt in the first place. Is it "normal" to feel this? If it isn't we should not rely on it for our happiness (or prod…
Do you feel shame/guilt when pair programming? Is the outcome still useful?
No, I'm not referring to pair programming. That is a dialogue between two people working to get something done (no shame involved).
I'm focussing more on the aspect of having someone looking over your shoulder. Just a pair of eyes to watch you work (which I don't equate with pair programming)
Re: I let a stranger watch me work for a day and I've never been more productive
#13If you did this everyday with a new stranger you'd stop caring eventually.
Re: I let a stranger watch me work for a day and I've never been more productive
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you feel shame/guilt when pair programming? Is the outcome still useful?
No, I'm not referring to pair programming. That is a dialogue between two people working to get something done (no shame involved). I'm focussing more on the aspect of having someone looking over your shoulder. Just a pair of eyes to watch you work (which I don't equate with pair programming)
I personally think I would be more productive as a pair, in large part (but not entirely), for the same reason as somebody just watching me.
Re: I let a stranger watch me work for a day and I've never been more productive
#15Anybody else get an immediately negative visceral reaction from this? If I'm understanding this correctly, the aim is to manipulate our sense of shame/guilt to boost productivity. After sitting with the feeling for a bit, here are some ideas that come to mind: 1. Maybe we should ask why we feel shame/guilt in the first place. Is it "normal" to feel this? If it isn't we should not rely on it for our happiness (or prod…
Yes, my immediate gut reaction to the title was to think, maybe next we can have an app to promote the creation of super workers that produce outputs far in excess of their quota, we could call them Shock Workers. Then I read it and some of the language leaned eerily in that direction.
OTOH I've seen similar things used in a different way which worked well, in places that have lots of ops centers to link them and make them feel like one - you can look up and see the other ops center with your colleagues there and chat etc. But that was less about applying a work/focus pressure and more about enabling communication and keeping the teams connected.
Re: I let a stranger watch me work for a day and I've never been more productive
#16That's cute. But did you consider hiring a stranger from craigslist to slap you everytime you access facebook? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4661940 Or perhaps testing websites... drunk? I love and loath these articles. They are the equivalent of "and you won't believe what this madlad did!!!!" of hackernews.
[deleted]
Re: I let a stranger watch me work for a day and I've never been more productive
#17This seems to be one of the major drivers for some folks who do pair programming.
Re: I let a stranger watch me work for a day and I've never been more productive
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, I'm not referring to pair programming. That is a dialogue between two people working to get something done (no shame involved). I'm focussing more on the aspect of having someone looking over your shoulder. Just a pair of eyes to watch you work (which I don't equate with pair programming)
I personally think I would be more productive as a pair, in large part (but not entirely), for the same reason as somebody just watching me.
Yes, I'm not questioning whether one would be more productive (I think actually someone would be more productive!). It's the value of this productiveness in the context of manipulating shame. Maybe for you shame is not a factor here, and that's great. I can only know me, and for me, the act of having someone watch over my shoulder (and only watch over my shoulder) as I work would have some level of shame/guilt involved.
Re: I let a stranger watch me work for a day and I've never been more productive
#19Anybody else get an immediately negative visceral reaction from this? If I'm understanding this correctly, the aim is to manipulate our sense of shame/guilt to boost productivity. After sitting with the feeling for a bit, here are some ideas that come to mind: 1. Maybe we should ask why we feel shame/guilt in the first place. Is it "normal" to feel this? If it isn't we should not rely on it for our happiness (or prod…
> For me, guilt/shame is something to be overcome, not used as a tool.
Wow, I think I quite strongly disagree.
What do you think it exists _for_ ?
It is good for society that people have the capacity for guilt and shame.
If we did not, I cannot see any other recourse other than fear!
Re: I let a stranger watch me work for a day and I've never been more productive
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
I personally think I would be more productive as a pair, in large part (but not entirely), for the same reason as somebody just watching me.
Yes, I'm not questioning whether one would be more productive (I think actually someone would be more productive!). It's the value of this productiveness in the context of manipulating shame. Maybe for you shame is not a factor here, and that's great. I can only know me, and for me, the act of having someone watch over my shoulder (and only watch over my shoulder) as I work would have some level of shame/guilt involv…
Right, me too. I'm just saying that the shame/guilt applies via your coding partner as well. Maybe more so, since they're a peer.