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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

#61

Post by lionkor »

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…

That sounds awful. I go to the office to chat with everyone, it's incredible how much work gets done when you can just walk over to someone and debug or rubbery ducky in real time.

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

#64

Post by Tabular-Iceberg »

lionkor wrote: post #61
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…

That sounds awful. I go to the office to chat with everyone, it's incredible how much work gets done when you can just walk over to someone and debug or rubbery ducky in real time.

Yes. I got fired from that place for being too negative and now work somewhere much more sane.

The CEO to his credit went on a campaign to improve the culture, but middle management obstinately refused to change a single thing. I recently heard he got fired by the board too, go figure.

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

#65

Post by kristianp »

onemoresoop wrote: post #32

I may have ADHD, I never went for a diagnosis and found body doubling useful at times, especially when I was in school some decades ago, back then I had no name for it. However, I find white noise very helpful with staying on the task and with increased focus. My company moved, about a year ago, into a very cramped office that is also extremely noisy. This exasperated me, I would get drained of energy in a couple of…

What do you do about notifications from Slack/Emails/Teams messages?

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

#66

Post by pydry »

phito wrote: post #57
zeristor wrote: post #2

Strangely I’ve found myself to be something like 400% more productive when pair programming. I’ve not heard anyone mention this aspect of paired programming for people with ADHD, although as a colleague once mentioned I jump from one thing to another, but in the end I’ve done the loop.

I’ve never really understood the hype around pair programming. In practice, it’s usually just sitting with a coworker who wants to chat and crack jokes while working. That’s fine socially, but I don’t see any productivity gains. What I find actually useful is a short, focused meeting with the relevant people before coding. That way, we align on what’s being built, resolve confusion, and then I can just go write the c…

The productivity gains come from:

* You get unstuck faster.

* When the passenger does background research/slacking stakeholders meaning that the driver doesnt have to context switch. Sometimes they even just know the answer to something you would have to spend 30 minutes researching.

* When the passenger spots something you didnt (antipattern, bug, problem) and they spot it quickly before you dug yourself a hole with it.

* When it makes it easier to take bigger decisions and bigger risks as a pair - risks/decisions most people wouldnt feel confident about taking solo.

* When those decisions are better - fewer rabbit holes are jumped into, more landmines are averted.

* When your respective coding philosophies developed over decades hit one another and you try to synthesize something that accomodates the best of both (this is next level pairing).

Mostly I find the productivity gains come from the quality of decisions being higher, which is invisible short term but overwhelming long term.

It doesnt help much if the person is very junior and needs to have everything explained but if theyre junior pairing is the best way to train and mold them into something better, which is probably what you want, right?

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

#67

Post by anshumankmr »

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…

Yeah I spent 2 hours in commute to attend Teams calls.. yay?

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

#69

Post by hdjjhhvvhga »

lionkor wrote: post #61
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…

That sounds awful. I go to the office to chat with everyone, it's incredible how much work gets done when you can just walk over to someone and debug or rubbery ducky in real time.

Everybody is different. When I visit the office sometimes, I do it to socialize and talk about things not related to work mainly. And then I get back to do the actual work. If I need to communicate with someone, I simply ask them for their time - they can get back to me whenever they are free. This system serves me and my coworkers well but it's obvious there are many people who prefer synchronous in-person communication for most tasks.

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

#70

Post by coldblues »

Focusmate is probably the most popular tool in this category. I don't like the other ones, I am more comfortable in a 1-1 video session rather than multiple people. It works really well when I want to force myself to get something done.

For the most comprehensive and effective solution, medication is still the go-to. Disregard any stigma and misguided fears around it and just get medicated.

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