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For me it depends a lot on what kind of work it is. Architecture/design/troubleshooting or other mentally taxing work I agree fully, maybe 4h after lunch per day. I can easily put in 40h+ of productive work when implementing straightforward solutions though (coding, documentation, testing etc).

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I would agree. I can easily put hours into straight programming when there is clear designs and goals. Actually designing the program though can just get exhausting.

I won't discount personality differences but I've certainly seen it enough in others that I figure there is some sort of mental limit.

A lot of discussion on automation is on removing the tedious, basic stuff so we can focus on the more difficult mental tasks. I do wonder though if perhaps we won't get as big a benefit as we think just due our nature.

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