Interesting read! Crazy that it was basically 3x increase/decrease in productive hours. Wouldn't try this myself, but found it interesting nonetheless @sberens.
I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
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Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#102I’m not sure what’s more shameful: the fact that this might have happened or that it is on the front page of HN.
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Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#103As I saw his schedule with girls names I knew this will be a fun shii.
I can imagine not mentioned interviews part, some guy shows up, sorry we're not a good fit, yeah right hahaha.
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#104I’m not sure what’s more shameful: the fact that this might have happened or that it is on the front page of HN.
We have morbid variety of intrigue
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#105This is incredibly bizarre, to the point where I wonder if this isn't just a creative writing exercise. Why does he feel the need to be 'productive' for 16 hours a day? Why did he think the best way to deal with this was to hire a group of babysitters? Why was he being so weird to his assistants? It just doesn't add up. The whole thing is so damn strange. Maybe this is an experiment on the readers of his article, to…
> Why does he feel the need to be 'productive' for 16 hours a day? Yeah after reading the post I’m like this guy must be a founder to value productivity so highly… NOPE, just works at Meta! EDIT: Oh wait, he DID also start a company, during the experiment in fact, but of course it’s in stealth mode! Can’t make this stuff up…
Wouldn't hiring people to sit behind you and watch you work be a breach of contract?
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#106I honestly cannot believe this. The porn part, the make me a smoothie request, dating dinners. This guy seriously paid people to sit behind him and didn't even think about them stealing his $1000 monitors until after the fact? He didn't try blocking any non productive sites? No productivity software? No pomadoro technique-esq focus methods? This guy should have paid $88/hour for therapy if we are being honest here
If he did that, then this blog and the clicks he is getting wouldn't exist.
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#107This is incredibly bizarre, to the point where I wonder if this isn't just a creative writing exercise. Why does he feel the need to be 'productive' for 16 hours a day? Why did he think the best way to deal with this was to hire a group of babysitters? Why was he being so weird to his assistants? It just doesn't add up. The whole thing is so damn strange. Maybe this is an experiment on the readers of his article, to…
I get it...
//Why does he feel the need to be 'productive' for 16 hours a day
When you are shooting for an outcome, you want to make sure you are working on it. Productivity is the means not the end.
// Why did he think the best way to deal with this...
I can relate. I am reasonably successful/ productive, but I am exponentially more successful and productive when focused. But focus is hard. If hiring someone to focus me was practical, why not?
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
Therapy would take away productive time :) I did actually use my own custom built productivity tools to block websites[0], and I used ActivityWatch[1] to track my time. [0] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/webblock/jeahkphmd... [1] https://activitywatch.net/
Did you ever consider building your own custom tools? Or based on the ones custom you described aforementioned, which features or tools do you wish you had on top of it? Just curious, and I respect the setup thus far.
Yeah I built that chrome extension I linked (WebBlock).
ActivityWatch is great for single device tracking, but I wish there was a tool for multi-device tracking and also away-from-device tracking (tracking gym, sleep, etc...) that integrated all of the data into one place and made it easily accessible. My use case is pretty niche though :/
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#109This and things like FocusMate seem symptomatic of much larger, more serious latent problems. It reminds of the younger generations having to put YouTube on to eat a meal. I can't quite put my finger on the connection, but paying a person sit behind you and ask how you're doing, and make you a smoothie... it feels like you're hiring someone to be your mother. This entire experiment left me feeling unclean.
> ADHD body doubling is a productivity strategy used by individuals with ADHD to finish possibly annoying jobs while having another person beside them. This person is the body double. The body double's duty is to keep the individual with ADHD focused on the task at hand to reduce potential distractions. — add.org google extract Sounds like a legitimate strategy.
My thought as well. People with ADHD will appreciate the experiment. Productivity tools may help some people, but there’s something about having people in the room that greatly amplifies productivity for me.
Re: I hired 5 people to sit behind me and make me productive for a month
#110This is incredibly bizarre, to the point where I wonder if this isn't just a creative writing exercise. Why does he feel the need to be 'productive' for 16 hours a day? Why did he think the best way to deal with this was to hire a group of babysitters? Why was he being so weird to his assistants? It just doesn't add up. The whole thing is so damn strange. Maybe this is an experiment on the readers of his article, to…
I hope that it is a parody of what the modern western manboy ™ has become, otherwise it is a bitter window to the state of affairs of the west.
The whole time I was reading, all I could think of was this video.