Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity • Hacker News Board

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#31

Post by shock » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 7:11 PM UTC

andrewflnr wrote: post #25

GuiA wrote: post #5

I have a Linux laptop on which I run a tiling window manager (in my case, Xmonad), and nothing else. No system tray, no quick launch bar, nothing. (if you're not familiar with tiling window managers, they're window managers in which windows are arranged automatically to a) fully occupy the screen and b) never overlap. They're extremely customizable, but typically you'll have a vertical half of your screen with a main…

Like many, I tend to use tabs as short term bookmarks or a reading queue. Do you do anything in particular for those use cases? Just URLs in a text file, maybe?

I use the Save-to-Read[0] Firefox addon.

[0] - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/save-to-read/

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#32

Post by mcdougle » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 7:11 PM UTC

Dewie wrote: post #30

Animats wrote: post #9

The author may be on to something with the line "A popup notification that runs without concern for what the user is doing is hostile behavior. Notice how there's no API in any OS for "is now a good time to interrupt the user?". Maybe there should be." Notifications could be deferred while the user is actively typing. When the user goes idle, deferred notifications can be displayed. This becomes more important as mor…

Windows 8.0 seems to have become especially bad when it comes to this. All of a sudden it will pop up and focus a (modal) window - all there is is the wallpaper (fuzzied) and the window, where did my application go? No Windows, I don't want to update Java (yet again) when I'm playing a fullscreened video game.

And then the full-screen application crashes because it was designed for Windows 7

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#33

Post by quicklyfrozen » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 7:12 PM UTC

dmdeller wrote: post #11

I have a separate local user account on my computer for work. When I start work in the morning, I switch to the work user and all of my personal stuff goes away. When I'm done with work at night, I switch back, all my personal stuff comes back and work goes away. It's almost like having a separate computer. People often look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them this. I haven't quite figured out why. If I need to loo…

So I guess HN is part of your "work" set up :-)

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#34

Post by jordanpg » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 7:13 PM UTC

_xnmw wrote: post #17

I've come to similar realizations during my programming career, and realized the value of simple mindfulness in all tasks, especially while communicating to those around you. I've found simple mindfulness to be like a superpower in our age of constant notifications and hundreds of tabs. I even try to force myself to be mindful while checking my email by dealing with a single email at a time (thanks to Mailbox app), a…

I'm sure we've all worked somewhere that banned gmail or youtube, etc. It's interesting that, in the context of this piece, those bans are addressing symptoms and not root causes. The bans are trying to enforce what you're describing: single conscious intention; but of course addressing the symptoms and not the causes will only cause the mole to pop up elsewhere.

We should begin to consider mindfulness as a skill, just like coding itself. A muscle that needs to be worked and flexed and honed with deliberate practice.

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#35

Post by jh3 » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 7:13 PM UTC

_xnmw wrote: post #24

GuiA wrote: post #5

I have a Linux laptop on which I run a tiling window manager (in my case, Xmonad), and nothing else. No system tray, no quick launch bar, nothing. (if you're not familiar with tiling window managers, they're window managers in which windows are arranged automatically to a) fully occupy the screen and b) never overlap. They're extremely customizable, but typically you'll have a vertical half of your screen with a main…

Anyone have any suggestions for how to get a similar setup on OSX?

Run everything in X11. I wish I knew of another way to run a decent tiling manager.

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#36

Post by segmondy » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 7:15 PM UTC

Yes, but can you google with the typewriter? If you couldn't, how much work can you get done? Not many people can work today without google, because with google, we get access to documentations, API docs, and what not. Without your computer, can you communicate faster? collaborate faster? Some folks use slack, hipchat, IRC, lync, whatever.

Are you going to code on your typewriter? I wrote code without a computer when I got into computing because I didn't have the money to buy one, I would write basic C code on paper. What a mess. Computers make us productivity, but you the user must decide on your work flow.

Computers are general problem solving machines, if you want to play game and watch cat pics all day, then it's your choice. If you want to work then you can. The guy on typewriter outside might do no work, instead he might stare at hot chicks or count cars or strike up a conversation with someone that comes along.

Productivity is not just a function of tool but also a function of self, and self control. I saw someone that mentioned self control and got downvoted, but they are correct. It's mostly about how productive you decide to become, there is no shortcut. If you are not motivated, and you are locked up in a room with nothing but a typewriter, you will not write tons of book. You will just sleep and cry and beg them to let you out of that room, you might even smash the typewriter. Someone like me, I might have more fun taking it apart and trying to put it together, anything but write a book.

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#37

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 7:15 PM UTC

_xnmw wrote: post #17

I've come to similar realizations during my programming career, and realized the value of simple mindfulness in all tasks, especially while communicating to those around you. I've found simple mindfulness to be like a superpower in our age of constant notifications and hundreds of tabs. I even try to force myself to be mindful while checking my email by dealing with a single email at a time (thanks to Mailbox app), a…

[deleted]

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#38

Post by abc_lisper » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 7:15 PM UTC

_xnmw wrote: post #17

I've come to similar realizations during my programming career, and realized the value of simple mindfulness in all tasks, especially while communicating to those around you. I've found simple mindfulness to be like a superpower in our age of constant notifications and hundreds of tabs. I even try to force myself to be mindful while checking my email by dealing with a single email at a time (thanks to Mailbox app), a…

Listen to this guy. This is very true while programming.

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#39

Post by Dewie » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 7:15 PM UTC

PCs are great for doing and solving a wide variety of stuff in the modern age. But we are at a point where people who care about usability should start to care more about limiting the utility and convenience of a computer. (Of course the user should decide what should be limited, not some other entity.)

We have managed to come far with regards to assisting people with modern computers. Now computers need to start assisting people more when it comes to discipline and focus. I think unassisted self-discipline is impractical. It might have worked in the past, but not in the Information Age. We aren't lazy and undisciplined if we allow ourselves to rely on the computer for helping us stay focused, like blocking certain websites during work hours - we are simply saving ourselves the energy that we would otherwise have to expend in order to resist all the temptation that a vanilla modern computer throws at us. An expense that a typewriter of yore never had to even worry about. Do we let the computers control us, or do we let the computer help us control ourselves?

You can't control the fact that grocery stores sell candy and sweets at the checkout, but you can control the focus and discipline that your personal computer affords you.

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#40

Post by jordanpg » Fri, Nov 07, 2014, 7:18 PM UTC

One thing this piece highlights for me is the importance of really learning the language you're coding in or the system you're operating. Many take the very practical approach of learning what is needed and no more, using google, SO, and API docs in a web browser to shore up what is missing.

Unfortunately, searching for and then reading something written by a new stranger every 5 minutes is a severe disruption to a focused workflow.

For me, this means learning advanced language features ahead of time (light bedtime reading by Josh Bloch, for example) and keeping a browser open with nothing open except a local copy of the API docs. Another example would be finding one good (physical) book to use as a language reference and keeping it next to the computer.