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Since I've worked remotely (from home) for years I can't possibly conceive how most workers are forced into a chair through the entire day. I had the luxury to

Since I've worked remotely (from home) for years I can't possibly conceive how most workers are forced into a chair through the entire day. I had the luxury to lay down pretty much any time I wanted. No wonder back problems are so common. Now running a small office and I put a couch in a separate room specially for resting. Everyone seems to enjoy it for 10-15 minutes a day, nobody abuses it. Whoever thinks people can be productive in a chair 8+ hours a day is deluding himself in my opinion. At least take a decent break then.

stuntkite 8y ago
As a manager, if I had a weird feeling that someone was "abusing" the couch (by sleeping on it too much), huge red flags would go up for me that I've missed something massive. Like a death in their family, undisclosed problems with a coworker or management, something medical, or general job apathy. I think I would read "abusing" as something more than just laying on the couch a lot. Like laying on the couch but storing old sandwiches under it. Kicking off shoes with unlaundered smelly socks. Just a general disconnect from the office environment, more than just needing a nap. I would ask the person out to lunch and ask them if they are happy. I think that's always a good place to start to discover/solve complex human problems. Also, developers are strange compared to normal clock punch jobs. Some of us can't "turn it off" when we get home. This is a work/life balance thing.... but if you've gotta sleep on the couch for a week because you got in a groove where it makes sense, I'm not going to complain. I would probably still quiz on happiness and maybe suggest taking a nap somewhere more comfortable or even taking a few days off and making sure their responsibilities are covered. They might not feel like they could relax because "no one else can solve it" or something. And that in itself is a problem, so time to find a hammock for a few days and come back refreshed with less tickets.
- tripzilch 8y ago
  You seem like a great manager.
  - stuntkite 8y ago
    Thank you! The jury is still out on that, but I try to be a good human first. I live with ASD and generalized anxiety disorder. Which I think a lot of people in our field (and the world) live with diagnosed or otherwise. I've done pretty well managing people in my own consultancy, but going into my current role I decided to do some digging on Autism in the workplace. I have some traits that aren't great and I wanted to try to get a better set of tools for handling them. Something that really helped me was this book "Aspergers on the Job"[1]. It's not that people with ASD need special care, it's just that there are tons of things that NT (neurotypical) people can tolerate that would be massively interrupting to someone with ASD. Potentially crippling. Things like meetings with no clear beginning or end, requirements that have shifting goalposts, frequent required all hands meetings, noisy environments, or unclear chain of command. If I align myself with more of a personal awareness than just a goal based methodology, not only can I get great results from people who aren't NT but that sort of thing is also something that everyone wants and can benefit from. Honestly, most of the productivity killers revolve around meetings and ticket process, but the how and why someone can't participate well varies greatly from person to person. We want exponential output from our coworkers, collaborators, and partners. In startups that is the difference between living or dying. In my experience, the best way to get that is to be engaging and adaptable. You've gotta play to people's strengths. If you've got a workhorse of a guy who will silently slog through shit you think he hates but the results are fantastic, you might not want to whip that pony to death. If you've got a coworker that doesn't seem to be hitting their own estimates on deliverables, you might need to take a closer look at how those deliverables are being reviewed and communicated, rather than just assuming the person can't hit the mark. IMO management is more a study in self awareness, compassion, getting things out of the way, and inspiring excitement than it is just making sure tickets are punched. So far I've had good results, but my methodologies aren't exactly well defined so when it fails it can easily be pointed at. Where as no one ever gets fired for managing a scrum with an iron fist. [1] https://www.audible.com/pd/Business/Aspergers-on-the-Job-Audiobook/B06XKHH3GZ https://www.audible.com/pd/Business/Aspergers-on-the-Job-Aud...
- fifnir 8y ago
  Are you hiring?
  - stuntkite 8y ago
    We are. I try not to directly cross my HN account with my job. But we are hiring in Austin and San Francisco for JS/Python programmers and data analysts + customer relations. We have a GPU driven graph visualization product, it's pretty neat. If you like interesting bleeding edge problems, we have plenty. If you are interested shoot me an email at hackernews(at)mechanicalpanda.com with a resume and I'll give you more details.

stuntkite 8y ago

As a manager, if I had a weird feeling that someone was "abusing" the couch (by sleeping on it too much), huge red flags would go up for me that I've missed something massive. Like a death in their family, undisclosed problems with a coworker or management, something medical, or general job apathy. I think I would read "abusing" as something more than just laying on the couch a lot. Like laying on the couch but storing old sandwiches under it. Kicking off shoes with unlaundered smelly socks. Just a general disconnect from the office environment, more than just needing a nap. I would ask the person out to lunch and ask them if they are happy. I think that's always a good place to start to discover/solve complex human problems. Also, developers are strange compared to normal clock punch jobs. Some of us can't "turn it off" when we get home. This is a work/life balance thing.... but if you've gotta sleep on the couch for a week because you got in a groove where it makes sense, I'm not going to complain. I would probably still quiz on happiness and maybe suggest taking a nap somewhere more comfortable or even taking a few days off and making sure their responsibilities are covered. They might not feel like they could relax because "no one else can solve it" or something. And that in itself is a problem, so time to find a hammock for a few days and come back refreshed with less tickets.

tripzilch 8y ago
You seem like a great manager.
- stuntkite 8y ago
  Thank you! The jury is still out on that, but I try to be a good human first. I live with ASD and generalized anxiety disorder. Which I think a lot of people in our field (and the world) live with diagnosed or otherwise. I've done pretty well managing people in my own consultancy, but going into my current role I decided to do some digging on Autism in the workplace. I have some traits that aren't great and I wanted to try to get a better set of tools for handling them. Something that really helped me was this book "Aspergers on the Job"[1]. It's not that people with ASD need special care, it's just that there are tons of things that NT (neurotypical) people can tolerate that would be massively interrupting to someone with ASD. Potentially crippling. Things like meetings with no clear beginning or end, requirements that have shifting goalposts, frequent required all hands meetings, noisy environments, or unclear chain of command. If I align myself with more of a personal awareness than just a goal based methodology, not only can I get great results from people who aren't NT but that sort of thing is also something that everyone wants and can benefit from. Honestly, most of the productivity killers revolve around meetings and ticket process, but the how and why someone can't participate well varies greatly from person to person. We want exponential output from our coworkers, collaborators, and partners. In startups that is the difference between living or dying. In my experience, the best way to get that is to be engaging and adaptable. You've gotta play to people's strengths. If you've got a workhorse of a guy who will silently slog through shit you think he hates but the results are fantastic, you might not want to whip that pony to death. If you've got a coworker that doesn't seem to be hitting their own estimates on deliverables, you might need to take a closer look at how those deliverables are being reviewed and communicated, rather than just assuming the person can't hit the mark. IMO management is more a study in self awareness, compassion, getting things out of the way, and inspiring excitement than it is just making sure tickets are punched. So far I've had good results, but my methodologies aren't exactly well defined so when it fails it can easily be pointed at. Where as no one ever gets fired for managing a scrum with an iron fist. [1] https://www.audible.com/pd/Business/Aspergers-on-the-Job-Audiobook/B06XKHH3GZ https://www.audible.com/pd/Business/Aspergers-on-the-Job-Aud...
fifnir 8y ago
Are you hiring?
- stuntkite 8y ago
  We are. I try not to directly cross my HN account with my job. But we are hiring in Austin and San Francisco for JS/Python programmers and data analysts + customer relations. We have a GPU driven graph visualization product, it's pretty neat. If you like interesting bleeding edge problems, we have plenty. If you are interested shoot me an email at hackernews(at)mechanicalpanda.com with a resume and I'll give you more details.