Lots of headlines today about a feature called Productivity Score that is part of Microsoft Office 365. The service promises to help "organizations transform how work gets done with insights about how people use Microsoft 365 and the technology experiences that support them." While on the face of it, Productivity Score does sound somewhat Orwellian, … Continue reading Leave Productivity to Economists

In what seems to been an inevitable move in the march of awfulness that is much of the tech industry these days, Spotify has announced that it will be giving artists who pay for the privilege a boost in the algorithm that recommends music to its customers. For many, especially those who listen to commercial … Continue reading Is That Recommended Song an Advertisement?

From The Guardian: Employees who continue working from home after the pandemic should be taxed for the privilege, with the proceeds used to help lower-paid workers, according to a new report. Economists at Deutsche Bank have proposed making staff pay a 5% tax for each day they choose to work remotely. They argue it would … Continue reading Should Homeworkers Be Taxed for the Privilege?

This is a fascinating interview with David Heinemeier Hansson, of recent Hey.com fame. He makes the point that when building software, we shouldn't try to estimate features and then fit them into two week sprints. Instead, it should be possible to determine the value of solving a particular problem and then set time boundaries on … Continue reading Should We Give Up Trying to Estimate How Long It Takes to Write Software?

I try to avoid Twitter or other social media, I’ve come to see it as the equivalent of trashy daytime TV - bad for the mind, and there’s always something much better I could be doing with my time. For many months now I’ve not had any social network apps installed on my phone. I … Continue reading Keeping Up to Date With Twitter Without Using Twitter