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The ADHD body double: A unique tool for getting things done

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Re: The ADHD body double: A unique tool for getting things done

#111

Post by LadyCailin »

swader999 wrote: post #100
Tabular-Iceberg wrote: post #59

This is where remote work goes off the rails, but then it’s wild how intentionally isolating the implementation of RTO that many large corporations are doing now. They line people up in rows, put headphones on their heads and wire them up to Teams and Jira to spend the whole day in isolation. Because taking a walk to another floor of building to talk to someone like a normal human being is too wasteful, but somehow f…

Meh, we haven't seen anything yet. Just wait till the AI managers take over. Keystroke, app usage, bugs, velocity, eye tracking, stool samples... All logged and dash boarded in real time.

“Privacy regulations aren’t important, because I have nothing to hide.”

Re: The ADHD body double: A unique tool for getting things done

#112

Post by AbstractH24 »

mrmincent wrote: post #17

I wfh pretty much 100%, and have inattentive adhd. I’ll occasionally go spend a day at a WeWork, either with other workmates, or by myself. On days that I’m with workmates, I get nothing done. On days I’m by myself, sitting by strangers, I’m really productive. I can just lock in and chug through my work. It never made sense to me until I learned about body-doubling, kind of feels like what I was inadvertently doing o…

I have a similar phenomenon - I wfh and if my wife is home while I try to work I find it more difficult to get in the zone than if I’m home alone. But if I go to a coworking space with others around I find it easier.

Last week I finally rented a small private office. The difficulty finding coworking spaces that offered external monitors, 24/7 access, and direct sunlight in a part of NYC that was convenient led me to just get the private office.

Renting was a no brainer after I tried it for a day. The little room outside home for me just to work felt shockingly great. But now I wonder if in time I’ll regret not going with a dedicated shared desk where I’m around others.

Re: The ADHD body double: A unique tool for getting things done

#114

Post by AbstractH24 »

asar wrote: post #89

Really interesting method. I've been calling a similar strategy the library effect. Whenever I work in an environment where other people are productive (or at least look productive) I can focus much better and get in the zone. It's now gotten to a point where I'm actively seeking desks with my screen exposed to the room, so people would be able to see me procrastinate, guilt tripping me to limit this sort of behavior…

> Really interesting method. I've been calling a similar strategy the library effect

As libraries reinvent themselves for an era where all the world’s knowledge is available on my cell phone, I wish more emphasis was placed on meeting booths.

Because then I’d work from them all day and never consider coworking spaces.

Re: The ADHD body double: A unique tool for getting things done

#115

Post by pydry »

AbstractH24 wrote: post #106
pydry wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's about maintaining a feeling of control, it's not about collaboration. Thats just the lie they tell to RTO. Ive worked in: 1) collaborative in office 2) uncollaborative in office 3) collaborative wfh 4) uncollaborative wfh Personally i found 4 to be the most tortuous (because of ADHD), but 2 isnt much better. 1 and 3 i think are roughly equally good while you're there but wfh has so many ancillary benefits like n…

The trouble with 3 is that while achievable, it requires an incredibly high degree of intentionality and strong leadership.

1 and 3 both do.

Re: The ADHD body double: A unique tool for getting things done

#116

Post by criddell »

Tade0 wrote: post #109

My most productive period within the last 12 months was when I rented a desk in a co-working space for the summer so that I could catch up with a friend who also went there. To me it was less his mere presence and more the ability to immediately share any thoughts that would occur to me. Also air conditioning. Same goes with chores - I would much rather have someone be in the same room while I e.g. do the dishes or c…

> I could pull this off only because my commute was short

The other critical factor was sharing a space with somebody who wanted to work in a similar way. If you shared that space with somebody who was significantly more or less social, the impedance mismatch could have been very negative.

Re: The ADHD body double: A unique tool for getting things done

#117

Post by chneu »

The podcast Science Vs just had an ADHD episode. They talk about body doubling and a bunch of other ADHD stuff.

Good episode. Recommend. Be aware that most folks who think they have ADHD really don't. Just like "OCD" and "migraines", people just like to throw labels on themselves.

Re: The ADHD body double: A unique tool for getting things done

#118

Post by AbstractH24 »

pydry wrote: post #115
AbstractH24 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trouble with 3 is that while achievable, it requires an incredibly high degree of intentionality and strong leadership.

1 and 3 both do.

Certainly

But the bar is even higher for 3 than 1 and likelihood of it occurring organically lower.

Re: The ADHD body double: A unique tool for getting things done

#119

Post by criddell »

jfrbfbreudh wrote: post #25
rpgwaiter wrote: post #21

I’m sure this works for some people. Personally I loathe social interaction of any kind, and mixing that with engineering gets me to my mental/emotional limits much faster. On my own I can work about 2 hours on and 10 mins off, sometimes for 10+ hours total. If I have a 2 hour collab coding call, that’s about all I’ll do that’s productive that day. I’l literally have to spend the rest of that day mentally recovering…

Same here. I started an in-office job recently as the company’s highest ranking engineer and my productivity has plummeted vs WFH. I found myself having to allocate mental bandwidth to my environment to allow for the possibility of being interrupted by others, so I ended up both less productive and more tired.

What you see as an interruption is somebody else clearing their path. It could be that your personal productivity drop is resulting in a productivity gain for the group.

Re: The ADHD body double: A unique tool for getting things done

#120

Post by eru »

swader999 wrote: post #100
Tabular-Iceberg wrote: post #59

This is where remote work goes off the rails, but then it’s wild how intentionally isolating the implementation of RTO that many large corporations are doing now. They line people up in rows, put headphones on their heads and wire them up to Teams and Jira to spend the whole day in isolation. Because taking a walk to another floor of building to talk to someone like a normal human being is too wasteful, but somehow f…

Meh, we haven't seen anything yet. Just wait till the AI managers take over. Keystroke, app usage, bugs, velocity, eye tracking, stool samples... All logged and dash boarded in real time.

If the AI is any good, it won't need the stool samples: it can infer all that data well enough just from your webcam.
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