Your brain might be able to skim faster when it has visible markers to use. I often use lines/paragraph breaks as these markers (on top of punctuation). It's easier to get lost in really long text lines than it is in short ones.
How do you deal with tightly coupled projects, where there needs to be a lot of back and forth communications between team members? If everyone is working all random hours, wouldn't that create unnecessary overhead and a lot of delayed decision making?
The key is to make sure you always have goals. They can't be too big or complex, or you'll find a way to not do them! While it's generally acceptable to make goals that are as large as a days work, I find that even that is too big when you have issues with procrastination.
There are two wins here, the tasks are small enough that you'll feel progress and want to keep going, and it will force you to really plan out your work before starting. If your task was just "Setup server", and you got stuck half way through, you might feel there is still so far to go and you'll end up breaking for the day. Then the cycle begins, and you won't want to pick it back up.
"Then the Monopoly became evident, and around the time of Windows 95 Microsoft realized they did not need to make things simple to users, but instead users had to learn how to use their tools."
I doubt they were consciously making a bad product. What was the state of usability in the mid 90's? If I think back to my Mac OS 7 days, I remember more than a fair share of problems. You really don't realize the problems with a 'good enough' design/process/business model until someone does it better.
You know, they could also not delete our accounts without giving us the ability to adjust what they don't like. This could all be automated, and wouldn't require much if any human involvement.
It's not about cost, it's about being tied a large weight that could be thrown overboard at any moment. I went with a gmail account back in 2004 because I didn't want to be tied to my ISP. Now, all my services (ALL!) use my gmail account as a means of resetting my password. If they decide to take away my account, I will be completely screwed.
What to do...what they need is the ability to have 2 email addresses for all services, so if I get cut from one, I'll just sign up for the other.
Seriously, I don't even care about all the emails in my inbox, I will go on if I loose my 3G database, I care more about my identity.
You sir, aren't thinking things through. If you want to risk losing critically important emails because google decided it didn't like your google+ picture, you be my guest.
I for one am deleting my g+ account until they fix all this garbage. If they don't, then I won't use it, simple as that. I'm using it for fun, I don't really need it (everyone's on facebook).
BTW, let me know if you ever run any companies, I want to know who to short and what software not to use.
I have to admit, this whole story gives me pause. I live and breath by my gmail account, and it they decide to deactivate it for no good reason (or refuse to help me after the fact), how can I be expected to use their services with any confidence? Perhaps my planned migration to google+ is on hold...
I would say it fits, since the person at the top (guy running the company, decision maker, so on) sees the abstractions beneath him, and takes action accordingly. Being a layer of abstraction (as you discuss) keeps you focused in one area, but without much knowledge of what's outside or the companies overall objectives for a specific task. It's hard to find motivation and purpose when you see just code.
There was recent article about people getting bored, and it seems to stems from the same source, visibility and purpose. From experience, the view from the top is all about visibility and purpose. You know why things are happening, and you believe in the reason because you are often the source of the actions. You enjoy the work because you feel the connection.
So how do we create visibility without inviting the increased communications overhead discussed in the mythical-man month? Is it read only, or does there have to be a full feedback mechanism?