
Hours - waffle_ss
https://cutebouncingbunnies.wordpress.com/2020/03/30/hours/
======
Normal_gaussian
At time of writing, both root comments are looking for an automated solution,
a bot.

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.

It also lacks a huge benefit:

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.

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.

*small by southern English standards; huge by the standards of the northern county I grew up in.

~~~
mikekchar
There was a marketing move a couple of years ago to try to make fishermen a
little more relatable to the public in Japan. As part of that they introduced
a wakeup service. The idea was that a fisherman would phone you from their
cell phone out on the boat to wake you up. They had to give up the idea
because it went viral and there was no way that the fishermen could handle the
volume. But I think part of the appeal was that the fishermen would be taking
time out of their job to wake you up. They would chat with you and ask you
what you were going to do for the day, etc. So it made that same kind of
social contract where you wouldn't dare go back to bed as it would waste the
fisherman's time -- even though nobody would know.

~~~
golergka
That's genius. Where can I find out more about this campaign?

------
wallflower
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.

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.

~~~
swinnipeg
This is so effective.

I am not the type to spring up to rush to the gym at 6AM, but if I told a
friend I will be there at 6AM, I will never miss it.

------
svat
There's a website for this called Focusmate, which seems to have been around
for at least two years going by past HN discussions:
[https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=1&prefix=true&que...](https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=1&prefix=true&query=focusmate&sort=byDate&type=all)

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
([https://www.hillaryrettig.com/2020/03/30/focusmate-a-
product...](https://www.hillaryrettig.com/2020/03/30/focusmate-a-productivity-
app-that-really-works/)).

[1]: "I Let A Stranger Watch Me Work For A Day — And I've Never Been More
Productive" ([https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/focusmate-review-
product...](https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/focusmate-review-productivity-
work-hack)), HN discussion along expected lines:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19591227](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19591227)

------
simplify
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.

[0]
[https://twitter.com/AnnieTheObscure/status/12476035165514670...](https://twitter.com/AnnieTheObscure/status/1247603516551467009)

------
ChrisMarshallNY
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.

I find that it helps me to write better code, think about my designs, and make
sure that I know my stuff.

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.

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.

[https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/](https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/)

~~~
Olreich
I find teaching is much less effective without someone there to learn. Part of
the benefit is getting asked about things you didn’t realize were important or
things that are welded into your mental models. It helps me step back at
least.

Writing things down and explaining them is always good practice. It’s harder
to gloss over mistakes or bad assumptions when you switch modes from “thing
I’m working on” to “thing in explaining”.

~~~
ChrisMarshallNY
You are correct. I have found that people don't seem to like reading, these
days. They prefer videos. The problem is, is that videos take a lot longer to
do (effectively) than writing, and I have a face that was made for radio (and
a voice that was made for silent films).

Also, I have been writing (and reading voraciously) pretty much my entire life
(since I was a kid), so that's the medium I use.

~~~
mattbk1
Don't worry, we readers still exist. I avoid information presented in videos
as much as I can in favor of written information.

------
battery_cowboy
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.

------
pandatigox
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.

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.

This is an example of my logging the amount of hours studied [2]

[0] [https://blog.beeminder.com/](https://blog.beeminder.com/)

[1] [https://www.beeminder.com/](https://www.beeminder.com/)

[2] [https://www.beeminder.com/llllll/fg](https://www.beeminder.com/llllll/fg)

------
pjc50
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.

~~~
appleflaxen
Why are social pressures not rational and self-directed?

If it's possible to say "humans are rational self-directed creatures, so
social pressure works" then you really haven't learned anything about human
rationality by observing their response to social pressure.

------
jolmg
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.

~~~
gumby
It’s a psychological trick because you promised this to someone else (as
opposed to your future self).

Seems like a good one though obviously not every psychological trick works on
everyone.

------
drigbye
I wasn’t brave enough to jump on with a stranger after checking out Focusmate.
There are heaps of videos such as this:
[https://youtu.be/cPTRA1gIWak](https://youtu.be/cPTRA1gIWak) on YouTube. I
found this really handy and got a productive session out of it. Would be even
better with live stream.

------
BlameKaneda
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).

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.

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).

------
Darkstryder
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.

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.

------
maroonblazer
If I knew how to write bots this would be a fun side project: Create a virtual
partner.

The domain seems narrow enough that it would be feasible to put together
something effective enough to achieve the desired effect - focus.

I'm a hobbyist developer so am probably underestimating the effort.

~~~
RankingMember
The power of this technique is that there's a real person on the other side.

------
Nesze
Similar product [https://www.focusmate.com](https://www.focusmate.com)

------
pjg
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

------
rustybolt
There should be an IRC channel for this.

