Is working at a coffee shop "surveillance"?

The experience on Focusmate is akin to working with a buddy at a library or cafe.

As far as pre-commitment: I think you've got your behavioral triggers mixed up.

Wikipedia has a good definition: "Precommitment refers to a strategy that an agent may use to restrict the number of choices available to him or her at a future time. The strategy may also involve the imposition of obstacles or additional costs to certain courses of action in advance."

I think you're thinking about telling someone what you'll do. That works when you tell someone what action you plan to take. It backfires when you share what result you'll get, because your brain visualizes some of the result, and experiences the reward prematurely.