Ask HN: Would you pay for this? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Would you pay for this?

13 pointscousin_it8 comments

So, I've been doing this anti-procrastination experiment with a friend over the last few months, and I'm wondering whether it would work as a product.

When I'm working I have a VNC viewer showing my friend's desktop, and likewise he can see mine. I check it out from time to time, and if he's browsing the web or watching movies, I send him a message in gtalk asking to stop. This simple method has been close to 100% effective in stopping us both from procrastinating, over the last few months, because it works on social pressure that humans understand well.

I'm thinking of turning this into a product somehow. Perhaps allow multiple people who wish to avoid procrastination to be "watched" by few human operators, and charging a monthly subscription for it.

Is there a market for this? At which price point?

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I would not allow some random stranger to be able to remotely view my desktop at any time just to see if I am "procrastinating". What happens if I jump over to view my bank account or am sending a personal email? If I have to block them every time I want to do something that is personal the tool is useless at that point, because now I can block them when I want to procrastinate.

For it to work properly both parties really need to be in sync and want each other to stop the other from procrastinating. But even then there is a privacy issue that can be difficult to overcome. In my opinion I don't see much of a market for this.

Re: privacy - I don't like the idea either.

Re: the social accountability mechanism - good idea.

I don't see much of a market for this either. Definately use it if it works for you and your friend/collegue.

I like the watching over you idea a lot. I've tried various methods to cut back on my web surfing at work (modify hosts file, noprocratinate setting on HN, etc.), none worked, since in all cases I reverted.

However, it absolutely cannot be done by watching my desktop, you've got to think of a more innovative way around this problem. Maybe just monitor my ports, etc.

Also, the reinforcement should not be in a freaky way (e.g. the movie The Game). Sending messages is OK, but there could also be a site where the aliases of best and worst are displayed and people can track their progress, like a version of Nike's running site. I would pay marginally for such a service, ~$2-3/month.

I like the idea, but instead of watching desktops, why don't you try monitoring web activity instead? At least for me, procrastinating means browsing the web.

For privacy concerns, you could open source the monitoring tool, but still charge for the service. With the log data you mine, you could generate productivity reports and the like.

Though one. I think it would only work if it's voluntary, and if the people who watch you are your friends/colleagues. The other (evil) path it can take is become a kind of "watch your employee" thing.

I don't like it, and don't think it'll work. Judging by my past results on this, I'd suggest that means there's a market and that you'll do well - give it a try :)

I can see it working with friends or study group. Not sure if a monthly subscription would work, maybe a single charge per use?

Odesk does this to allow "bosses" to monitor freelancers.

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