Any one with insight on how this compares with recent or even not too recent times?
My immediate thoughts on this are that business may have become simply more active and noisier. That is, there’s always something to tend to, whether it be an immediate demand or working towards something in the future. Basically business practice growing and accelerating without accounting for what limitations people may have. I’d also wager it’s also noisier, as in full of meaningless stuff. Communications that mostly fluff, planning that isn’t actually thought through but closer to empty ambitions, requests for help or explanation due to not trying hard enough to work out them selves.
But then they get into a positive feedback loop. Too distracted to do anything well? Then just forward the cruft and minimally viable product down the line, or, produce an easy to make communication or plan that looks like productivity but really isn’t.
In the end, we run into Kessler syndrome, but for time and concentration rather than space. Everyone is burnt out and so passes along some distraction to the next person and so on until no one can get anything meaningful done as that would require uninterrupted time and concentration. What’s more, people adapt to their environment. If you expect to be interrupted, then you’ll never bother to work in a way conducive to longer periods of work. Instead, to seem productive, you’ll come up with our look for small and easy pieces.
Which gets to productivity culture. How mindful are we all of having to constantly prove our worth and productivity? If so, and given the above, how much are them inclined to do something that signals productivity rather than something that actually is productive? And much distraction is that likely to cause for others, both short term and long term? How much is that then going to encourage others to signal? Seems like Kessler syndrome again to me.
I’d wonder if in the recent past there was more of a sense that you had your job and that was that. It was fine. Don’t fuck it up and everything will be fine. Nothing urgent to do right now, go to the doctor it will be fine.
Well I’m not talking about general conditions or labour rights, which certainly make any historical comparisons in this particular issue difficult or meaningless. But rather how an ordinary office job was managed and conceived. And the nature of work too.
Edit: specifically “knowledge” work, which has always been around. Generally though, I’m probably thinking of mainly boomer knowledge work, probably 60s-90s, as a historical comparison. I’ve just heard a few too many stories of someone totally checking out of their job, due to personal difficulties or whatever, and it being fine on a way that feels difficult to fit into todays “hustle culture” world.
40 years ago you left school and had no job prospect, high unemployment, high interest rates…
30 years ago you left school and had no job prospect…
20 years ago…
The situation has always been shit in the USA except for a very short post-WW2 window. People need to stop believing that things were sooooo much better back in the day, it was an historical anomaly, accepting that is the first step to realize that something needs to change for good!
Life in US has progressively been turned into shit over last 40 years with a few exceptions.
These boomer talking points are getting old… Owner class and retiring boomers need working people to accept the current unacceptable conditions as wagie.
It’s still true that the boomer respite is just an historical anomaly, it doesn’t mean people shouldn’t wish for better living conditions, it just means that we shouldn’t settle for what they got because we were can see, it didn’t last!
Any one with insight on how this compares with recent or even not too recent times?
My immediate thoughts on this are that business may have become simply more active and noisier. That is, there’s always something to tend to, whether it be an immediate demand or working towards something in the future. Basically business practice growing and accelerating without accounting for what limitations people may have. I’d also wager it’s also noisier, as in full of meaningless stuff. Communications that mostly fluff, planning that isn’t actually thought through but closer to empty ambitions, requests for help or explanation due to not trying hard enough to work out them selves.
But then they get into a positive feedback loop. Too distracted to do anything well? Then just forward the cruft and minimally viable product down the line, or, produce an easy to make communication or plan that looks like productivity but really isn’t.
In the end, we run into Kessler syndrome, but for time and concentration rather than space. Everyone is burnt out and so passes along some distraction to the next person and so on until no one can get anything meaningful done as that would require uninterrupted time and concentration. What’s more, people adapt to their environment. If you expect to be interrupted, then you’ll never bother to work in a way conducive to longer periods of work. Instead, to seem productive, you’ll come up with our look for small and easy pieces.
Which gets to productivity culture. How mindful are we all of having to constantly prove our worth and productivity? If so, and given the above, how much are them inclined to do something that signals productivity rather than something that actually is productive? And much distraction is that likely to cause for others, both short term and long term? How much is that then going to encourage others to signal? Seems like Kessler syndrome again to me.
I’d wonder if in the recent past there was more of a sense that you had your job and that was that. It was fine. Don’t fuck it up and everything will be fine. Nothing urgent to do right now, go to the doctor it will be fine.
A bit over 100 years ago people left school at 12 to go work 6 or 7 days a week in a factory until they died.
Things are better for the vast majority.
Well I’m not talking about general conditions or labour rights, which certainly make any historical comparisons in this particular issue difficult or meaningless. But rather how an ordinary office job was managed and conceived. And the nature of work too.
Edit: specifically “knowledge” work, which has always been around. Generally though, I’m probably thinking of mainly boomer knowledge work, probably 60s-90s, as a historical comparison. I’ve just heard a few too many stories of someone totally checking out of their job, due to personal difficulties or whatever, and it being fine on a way that feels difficult to fit into todays “hustle culture” world.
Now do the same comparison 20-40 years ago…
40 years ago you left school and had no job prospect, high unemployment, high interest rates…
30 years ago you left school and had no job prospect…
20 years ago…
The situation has always been shit in the USA except for a very short post-WW2 window. People need to stop believing that things were sooooo much better back in the day, it was an historical anomaly, accepting that is the first step to realize that something needs to change for good!
Life in US has progressively been turned into shit over last 40 years with a few exceptions.
These boomer talking points are getting old… Owner class and retiring boomers need working people to accept the current unacceptable conditions as wagie.
It’s still true that the boomer respite is just an historical anomaly, it doesn’t mean people shouldn’t wish for better living conditions, it just means that we shouldn’t settle for what they got because we were can see, it didn’t last!
It did not last because boomers sold out their kids for 401k and mcmansions.
Owner class was able to convince them to do this with out much afford tbh.