Comment by pierrec | Hacker News Reader

Comment by pierrec | Hacker News Reader

I've previously dreamed of a community version of this, and I'm certain others have as well. There's a chance the concept might be flawed, but it's worth considering. Members would be encouraged to act as "productivity coach" for one or more other members, and in exchange could receive the same service. I like it because it could be cheap and/or free, and having members experience both sides of the equation could improve the overall experience. There are some challenges that might render this impossible, though:

- Is there a target audience, ie. procrastinators capable of being productivity coaches? (I, for one, believe I fit the profile)

- How can the coaching be incentivized? Points system, matchmaking?

- Should it be monetized? If yes, how?

- How much community moderation would be required, and how could it be implemented?

Let's talk! This is what we're trying to do with the Your Boss app.

We facilitate peer-to-peer "boss" support through phone calls. There's question prompts at the beginning of the call to guide the conversation (ie. "Is there anyone you're forgetting to email?")

The phone always says "Your boss is calling." so you know the app is calling you.

I've been self-employed (without a boss) for 10 years and have thought about this a lot. (Check out Your Boss in the app store! We launched 12 weeks ago. Would love to know what you think.)

This does sound like a good idea. It is indeed easier at times to give advice to someone else than it is to yourself.

This. I find that the advice I easily dole out to other people is the same advice I struggle with following. It just seems so easy to do when you're telling someone else how to do it.

Totally. When I'm a "boss", I often give someone advice that I haven't done yet. Then after I say it, I actually (finally) go do the thing I said. It's like, I just needed to say it out loud to someone else in order to go do it.

n-reduce online incubator did that. they tried to monetize it and failed. (or they couldn't figure out how to monetize it)

the incentive was that everyone was coaching everyone else (in their small group), so you support others, and get support yourself.

i believe there are several organizations that provide this kind of support. mastermind groups do that too i think.

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