At time of writing, both root comments are looking for an automated solution, a bot.<p>Having done something like this a lot, it does not work for me to have a bot. The predictability and lack of social accountability (one should be honest) causes it to fail.<p>It also lacks a huge benefit:<p>It turns out that doing something "with" someone, despite a lack of collaboration, has significant social value. Even more so if you do it in the same room or at worst the same video conference.<p>For this reason I moved from the many tools that exist to do this with strangers to arranging an hour with a friend. This works exceptionally well and has strengthened my friendships despite us living in different cities (I am in a small* town); likely because it keeps us present, real, and approachable in each others minds.<p>*small by southern English standards; huge by the standards of the northern county I grew up in.
When I was training for a triathlon many years ago, my friend who was also training would text me and we would agree to meet at the gym for a morning swim a few times a month. At 5:30AM, of course! Every time the alarm went off, I cursed and cursed and made it out the door to drive to the gym, just in time. Neither of us never missed a swim date, and it was because we would never be able to live it down if either of us failed to fulfill the commitment.<p>It is one thing to go to the gym at 5:30AM. It is quite a different thing if your friend is expecting you to be there and they also got up early.
There's a website for this called Focusmate, which seems to have been around for at least two years going by past HN discussions: <a href="https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=1&prefix=true&query=focusmate&sort=byDate&type=all" rel="nofollow">https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=1&prefix=true&que...</a><p>I have not used it myself (and am not affiliated in any way); my only knowledge of it comes from reading a review/experience [1], and a more recent mention in a newsletter I follow (<a href="https://www.hillaryrettig.com/2020/03/30/focusmate-a-productivity-app-that-really-works/" rel="nofollow">https://www.hillaryrettig.com/2020/03/30/focusmate-a-product...</a>).<p>[1]: "I Let A Stranger Watch Me Work For A Day — And I've Never Been More Productive" (<a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/focusmate-review-productivity-work-hack" rel="nofollow">https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/focusmate-review-product...</a>), HN discussion along expected lines: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19591227" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19591227</a>
The author of this post is Anne Ogborn, one of the most experienced Prolog programmers in the community. She happens to be hosting a beginners & advanced Prolog course[0] that's starting in a couple days (I've enrolled myself). I see 70 others in the slack channel so far. Highly recommend.<p>[0] <a href="https://twitter.com/AnnieTheObscure/status/1247603516551467009" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/AnnieTheObscure/status/12476035165514670...</a>
One of the things that I like to do, is stop for a few days, from time to time, and write a article about my personal process, projects, whatever.<p>I find that it helps me to write better code, think about my designs, and make sure that I know my stuff.<p>I don’t care too much whether or not people actually read my stuff, but I always make an effort like I’m writing for a major publication.<p>I will also write “lessons”; regardless of whether or not there are “students.” I was taught that the best way to learn, is to teach.<p><a href="https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/" rel="nofollow">https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/</a>
I love how the first thing us social rejects here do is get an idea in our heads to make an artificial intelligence or a bot to replace the human interaction part.
The author is talking about accountability, which the folks at Beeminder have been blogging[0] and implementing[1] for a long time. Their premise is to "tread the yellow line" and you won't have to suffer the consequences, which is paying money each time you fail.<p>I used their app while preparing for an exam and I regret not using it earlier. I was initially put off by the fact that I will have to fork over money to a random company, but in reality, you don't have to pay if you never fall from the "yellow line". Additionally, they give multiple reminders so that money isn't snatched away from you, and their customer support helped me refund money for one time when I didn't log something that I did do.<p>This is an example of my logging the amount of hours studied [2]<p>[0] <a href="https://blog.beeminder.com/" rel="nofollow">https://blog.beeminder.com/</a><p>[1] <a href="https://www.beeminder.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.beeminder.com/</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.beeminder.com/llllll/fg" rel="nofollow">https://www.beeminder.com/llllll/fg</a>
A lot of people here find it hard to admit that humans aren't purely rational self-directed creatures and that social pressure works, even when you've set it up yourself.
I wonder if the author really finds having a partner to be necessary. It sounds like this could be substituted with keeping a journal, recording what happens every hour. You'd get the bonus of having a written record of your day.
I wasn’t brave enough to jump on with a stranger after checking out Focusmate. There are heaps of videos such as this: <a href="https://youtu.be/cPTRA1gIWak" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/cPTRA1gIWak</a> on YouTube. I found this really handy and got a productive session out of it. Would be even better with live stream.
Oxbridge has a "Tutorial/Supervisions system" where you and 2-3 other students meet with a faculty member every week, and you receive direct feedback and critiques on written assignments (typically essays).<p>I've never participated in these systems, but what's struck me about them is that you have to come prepared not only with a finished essay, but you have to explain and defend them like you would a thesis. In high frequency.<p>Hours reminded me of this, but on a much more informal level. In both, you have to come prepared (at least, in the Hours system it's to your benefit).
I really like the concept but I wonder if doing it with someone external to the company is a good idea for those of us with NDAs, confidentiality clauses and so on. Especially if it is done using a communication channel that hasn't been approved by the company.<p>I suppose you can keep the details vague enough if necessary, but if I was a spy, this is definitely something I would try to do with my target.
If I knew how to write bots this would be a fun side project: Create a virtual partner.<p>The domain seems narrow enough that it would be feasible to put together something effective enough to achieve the desired effect - focus.<p>I'm a hobbyist developer so am probably underestimating the effort.
I like this. As a founder I'm constantly multi-tasking. Getting "maker" time is virtually impossible. Having accountability in 1 hour increments is good. The key is the overhead of setting this up and communicating should be minimal compared to the task at hand, else it won't be efficient