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> If my employees are spending a lot of their time goofing off, that’s an indication that I’m doing a poor job keeping them motivated and is an opportunity to r

> If my employees are spending a lot of their time goofing off, that’s an indication that I’m doing a poor job keeping them motivated and is an opportunity to reevaluate what we’re doing and how. Sounds like a good soundbite from a management book or something. You don't think there's a possibility that someone, idk, doesn't want to work and prefers doing something else? I've been guilty of playing video games during the workday and its not due to lack of motivation or the manager doing something wrong ... I simply want to do something thats not work. Not the managers fault.

commandlinefan 4y ago
> doesn't want to work and prefers doing something else It's possible, but that's really what the interview process is supposed to be for. In programming, this is kind of a necessity, because from the outside, deep work looks exactly like "loafing". You can't threaten, harass, cajole or otherwise motivate somebody to actually mentally focus on something the way you could, say, threaten to chop off their hands if they stop digging for diamonds. You might want to, but even you would eventually have to conclude that it didn't work. Ultimately, you have to trust the people responsible for doing the work.
- Psychlist 4y ago
  > {programming} from the outside, deep work looks exactly like "loafing". Worse, from the outside causing major problems that will only show up later looks exactly like typing really intently. I remember one horrible problem I had dumped on me where I spent a week reading stuff online and doodling. Once I had a doodle I liked I threw together a multithreaded user authentication system in a week then spent a week making sure it actually worked. CIO was very impressed but afterwards admitted the first week drove him quietly insane. Luckily my team leader kept saying "that's what thinking looks like". Some managers completely miss point of thinking, and not just when other people are doing it /s
tsuujin 4y ago
There is indeed a chance that someone doesn’t want to work and doesn’t have a place on the team. I have let people go for this, but only after extensively attempting to remediate. That’s why it’s an “indication” and not a “guarantee”.

commandlinefan 4y ago

> doesn't want to work and prefers doing something else It's possible, but that's really what the interview process is supposed to be for. In programming, this is kind of a necessity, because from the outside, deep work looks exactly like "loafing". You can't threaten, harass, cajole or otherwise motivate somebody to actually mentally focus on something the way you could, say, threaten to chop off their hands if they stop digging for diamonds. You might want to, but even you would eventually have to conclude that it didn't work. Ultimately, you have to trust the people responsible for doing the work.

Psychlist 4y ago
> {programming} from the outside, deep work looks exactly like "loafing". Worse, from the outside causing major problems that will only show up later looks exactly like typing really intently. I remember one horrible problem I had dumped on me where I spent a week reading stuff online and doodling. Once I had a doodle I liked I threw together a multithreaded user authentication system in a week then spent a week making sure it actually worked. CIO was very impressed but afterwards admitted the first week drove him quietly insane. Luckily my team leader kept saying "that's what thinking looks like". Some managers completely miss point of thinking, and not just when other people are doing it /s

tsuujin 4y ago

There is indeed a chance that someone doesn’t want to work and doesn’t have a place on the team. I have let people go for this, but only after extensively attempting to remediate. That’s why it’s an “indication” and not a “guarantee”.