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Re:Bosses panic-buy spy software to keep tabs on remote workers by downerending on Monday March 30, 2020 @02:36PM (#22730806)
Looking back over my career, there's an obvious inverse correlation between being watched and being productive. Well, except that I'm able to look productive while being watched, and arguably that counts as "productivity". Just not the kind the company probably had in mind.

Works the other way as well. I don't want to be able to see what others are working on--open offices are also distracting for this reason.

Re:Bosses panic-buy spy software to keep tabs on remote workers by mcv on Tuesday March 31, 2020 @05:12AM (#22735986)
I've always been terrible at looking busy. At my very first job, I'd written a bunch of macros and scripts to generate my code directly from the functional design, so half the time I would be leaning back watching all my scripts do their thing. My boss hated it.

Over time, I think I've gotten better at looking busy while reading HN. I don't think there's a very strong correlation between looking busy and being productive.