A panel given by Danny O’Brien and Merlin Mann at etech, as transcribed by Cory Doctorow
There’s something satisfying about making it hard to screw up—it’s like clipping mittens to your sleeves.
OTOH, from O’Reilly: “The mouse is the single greatest obstacle standing in the way of becoming one with your keyboard and the dramatically higher productivity levels which the state promises.” Keyboards get you into the zone. The mouse breaks your stride (though not if you’re a designer). What throws you is the transition—from keyboard to mouse or vice-versa.
“Improved focus can be achieved through activities such as
meditations, yoga and turn off Instant Messaging” – Ulrich Mayr,
U Oregon.
Everything until now has been about keeping you in flow, but the next wave is all in eliminating distraction. I use a proxy that
replaces all my web-sessions after 10 min with a page that says
DO YOU REALLY WANT TO LOOK AT THE WEB OR DO YOU HAVE WORK TO DO.