Ask HN: Do productivity posters do anything for you? What works in your office? - stephenitis
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ianleeclark
We have a tv per desk (we have wide u shaped desks in an open-office) above
our desks in my office with chromecasts in them. Presumably these tvs are for
showing things off, or displaying things should we ever have a meeting in our
production area, but for the past 3 months I've been here, I've just seen
beautiful sunsets, waterfalls, cats and many other relaxing images.

Just walking into the office, or taking a break from a frustrating problem and
seeing these 30second (or however long) stills has done infinitely more than
any motivational poster could or would ever do for me.

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greenyoda
Motivational posters have become such an annoying cliché that you can make a
successful business out of parodying them:

[http://despair.com](http://despair.com)

~~~
AnimalMuppet
One of their posters seems perfectly apropos here (quoting from memory because
their web site seems to be dead): "If all it takes to motivate you is a cute
poster, you must have a really easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon."

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cauterized
You're kidding, right? Being surrounded by empty platitudes with the
expectation that they'd motivate me would serve only to demotivate.

Try giving your developers responsibility, autonomy, trust, and respect. You'd
be amazed how far a little self-determination and native pride in ones work
can go.

And if your developers are incapable of handling autonomy or have no
particular desire to take pride in their work, your problems run way deeper
than motivation.

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stray
The only thing that has ever worked -- for programmers anyway -- is a quiet,
roomy office with a comfortable chair, plenty of desk space and a solid door.

And very few interruptions.

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LarryMade2
The posters that boost productivity for me are usually reference ones may not
be specific to the field - i.e.
[http://www.unihedron.com/projects/spectrum/](http://www.unihedron.com/projects/spectrum/)

Makes me look at big picture and think of possibilities

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kdamken
I'm sorry that you've been tasked with improving productivity in your office
haha.

Here are some things that you can try that will actually have a positive
effect:

-Better pay

-Better hours

-The ability to work remotely

-More vacation and sick time, with the encouragement to actually use it

-More autonomy in the jobs that they're doing

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kleer001
They sometimes make me giggle with their bombastic promises of teamwork and
winning. Posters are just another kind of wallpaper.

Only thing I've ever seen work to raise productivity and motivate the workers
is a sincere and firm handed bit of support from the higher ups. Leads,
managers, and the rest that would act like regular people, make sure you had
what you needed and could feel free to complain. Also higher ups that
protected all the workers in the trenches from Client crazyness and subsequent
fallout emotions.

The only kind of wall coverings I've seen that made a difference to the people
working there was art from people working there, prints, paintings,
photographs. Many people have side projects and they'd love to get some
viewers.

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leonroy
I found most of them a bit meh but this one resonated enough that I put it up
in my office.

Apprently it's quite popular amongst industrial designers but I think the
advice is relevant enough to most industries.

[http://goodfuckingdesignadvice.com/collections/prints/produc...](http://goodfuckingdesignadvice.com/collections/prints/products/classic-
advice-print)

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askRich
Productivity posters might spark motivation for a a short moment, but after
that motivation leaves, you're back to relying on your regular patterns /
habits

On a small team, most of our productivity comes in the morning after we've
said hello and settled in. Gets real quiet and we all just get in the zone. As
the day winds down we loosen up. It's a very pleasurable way of working, for
us at least.

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jordansmith
I never thought the posters actually did any sort of motivation. I always saw
them as decorations, and wanting to give a certain feel to the space.

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SamReidHughes
In 8th grade, I was in the band, and at the end of the year, for the last 3
weeks of school, the 8th graders would go practice with 9-11th graders of the
high school band to perform at graduation. In the high school band room, there
were a bunch of home-made motivational posters on the walls, and you know
what? They did work _then_ and they probably helped inculcate some enthusiasm
into me. Of course, that wasn't an organization trying to make money off of
me, and I was 13.

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ChuckMcM
Back during the dot com days the joke was the only motivational poster that
did anything was the whiteboard that had the current stock price on it.

I don't think I've ever heard someone say "Wow I really like the motivational
posters" but I have seen some that went pretty wrong (and as a result were
ineffective).

So my guess is the have high downside and little upside.

That said, nice artwork (no pithy saying), seems to always make the space feel
more inviting and comfortable.

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thecupisblue
They do - not posters, but those wall stickers. They make me feel more
productive, and make the space seem like something more than a collection of
white walls. Seeing a motivational quote when starting your day is a good
affirmation and even tho they might be a cliche they bring a good vibe and I
think everyone is acting a bit "holier than thou" by shitting on them.

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sureshn
More than mere posters what really works is getting the team to do exercises
which improve mindfulness like a yoga etc, inter personal relationship is the
key to an individual engaging himself fully in his work , this is what works
for us

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wingerlang
For me, no.

What works in our office, obviously this is personal, but we use an open
office space so the fact that others are here and working motivates me.

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tmaly
We have no posters, but if we did I would prefer something comical

