> There is quite a bit of controversy over what the mechanisms for the Hawthorne Effect are, and whether change alone can introduce it for whether participants

> There is quite a bit of controversy over what the mechanisms for the Hawthorne Effect are, and whether change alone can introduce it for whether participants need to feel they are being observed My vote is change alone can introduce it; going from not being observed to observed is a change itself. People get into a daily groove after adjusting to whatever circumstance or process (maybe that averages 4-8 weeks I have no idea), but introduce a novel thing into that and they "perk up" until that bit leaves or integrates into the daily groove. In my experience, people prefer working on new features, even if that feature is some managements arbitrary initiative. They rather work on that new ridiculous thing than continue on their previous slog through the bug backlog until the new thing becomes a slog itself.