#productivity

Writing in The Atlantic, David Brooks discusses how, as a technology, AI is used differently depending on predispositions:

The general pattern that the research points to is that many people don’t use the time they save using AI to do less; they use the time to take on new tasks. AI also seems to shift workers’ expectations, and their boss’s expectations, about how much they should accomplish in a day. Every hour feels more crowded, but also more frazzled. The ActivTrak researchers found that the time people spent on focused, uninterrupted work fell by 9 percent. There’s even a name for this mental state: “AI brain fry.”

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I realised that there were a couple of things missing in TaskDial that affect my productivity:

• Energy curve
• Weather

So I've added them! So in addition to being able to see your tasks and calendar on one clock face, you can also get some help in planning those tasks by being more aware of your energy levels and the weather at your location.

I like this from Russell Davies, telling the story of visiting Microsoft's campus in the 1990s when Bill Gates was still around.

Gates was notoriously socially awkward, so he just asked everything the same question, "What are you working on?". People ensured they had an answer that made it sound like they were working on something:

This video, Will AI destroy the economy? from Gary's Economics is a must watch. I viewed it on 1.5x speed and it's a really useful, accessible message.

I asked my Little Robot Friend to create an overview with timestamps for those who aren't so fond of watching videos:

Already in 1877, Robert Louis Stevenson called busyness a "symptom of deficient vitality," and observed "a sort of dead-alive, hackneyed people about, who are scarcely conscious of living except in the exercise of some conventional occupation".

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Today's vibe:

No more of that sittin' in a slump and uh

No more of that coulda-woulda-shoulda junk (nope)

No more of that waiting for the inspiration, innovation

Or a green light – now begin

No more of that lettin' all your time pass (uh-uh)

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This is such great satire from McSweeney's on the state of AI company financing. We all know it's a bubble, it's just whether it's going to pop or slowly deflate...

Benjamin owns a farm. He employs 100 workers plowing his fields. His total payroll is $10 million/year. One day, he buys a mule, which provides the worker who uses it with a modest 10 percent productivity gain. Benjamin fires 99 of his workers and purchases 99 mules, expecting a 1,000 percent productivity gain. The driverless mules cause plow damage to his property in excess of $50 million. Benjamin loses another $5 million due to the loss of productivity from his one remaining employee, who no longer guides a plow but instead spends 100 percent of his time shoveling mule shit. Goldman Sachs builds an altar to Benjamin in their lobby and cuts out the heart of a junior analyst on it every Friday. They call it “Blood Sacrifice Friday.” The name isn’t catchy, but the event becomes a management favorite nonetheless.

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We're used to the mantra that things that are measured get improved. But, also, if you put any sort of number next to someone's name, they will try and make it go up. That doesn't mean that they've chosen that as something that is good for them, their community, or their organisation. So we need to think about who benefits from the measurement.