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But, being productive is fun.

Comments[3] by Dave in General

Matt made some insightful comments about what he calls America's obsession with productivity. I'm not sure this is only an American phenomenon, but it is a truism. If you are lucky enough to love the work you do, as is the case for many software developers and especially open source developers, then this is not necessarily a sad phenomenon.

Being productive means different things to different people. For me, it means designing and developing software. I've found that when I'm designing or developing something interesting at work, I have much less of a desire to work on side projects in the evening. I seem to have a need to develop software and if that need is not fulfilled at work, I have to do it after hours. My wife has noticed this and once caused me a little embarrassment. One year, at a company christmas party, she told the VP of development "why don't you give Dave something interesting to do, so he doesn't have to write code all night."



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Comments:

I think the basic problem is that it leads to "I am productive, therefore I am". So, when there is no "production" you essentially cease to exist, as a valuable member of society. This is what Matt hinted at. If it is a truism, then what does that do to the Iraqis who are now unable to produce anything because of the chaos they experience? You have an entire populace who are not productive, because the foundation of their society is gone, and therefore "cease to exist" as valuable individuals. If, on the other hand, one does not identify ones own existence with what you can produce, then there is less risk of a loss of self esteem in such times of turmoil. I used the Iraqi people as an example now, but it is entirely possible that any people on Earth experience the same scenario in the near future, either because of manmade or natural events. Should this occur, I think it is vital that this "I am productive, therefore I am" mentality is discarded, because it is unproductive and dangerous. It is not dangerous when all is "well", but when all is not "well", it is. Just a thought.

Posted by Rickard on April 12, 2003 at 04:44 AM EDT #

I think we need to focus on being reproductive.

Posted by Mortimer Snerd on April 12, 2003 at 07:33 AM EDT #

Look, you're both just being counterproductive.

Posted by Bob on April 13, 2003 at 06:58 PM EDT #

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