Show HN: Look Busy fills your work calendar with secretly fake events | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Look Busy fills your work calendar with secretly fake events

lookbusy.app

83 pointsaaronbrager26 comments

I think the fact that this was actually made speaks to the fact that a lot of people are no longer able to do what they were actually hired to do. While I hope that not a lot of people will use the app, I do hope that i sparks some conversations about how our time is spent while at work.

For sure this will burn you at work eventually if you use it. That said, if you need this, maybe you need to actually brush up your CV and find a job that doesn't destroy your productivity with meetings :)

I respond to all meeting invited as tentative as I have no clue if I’ll get scheduled pulled into a different meeting at the same time.

Is there such a job where you’re not inundated by meetings?

Any job where at least some of the work you do is so important that no one can justifiably tell you not to do it for any reason except to fire you. There are a variety of professional services fields where this is the case. IDK about the software world.

I know a couple guys working as quants on trading desks that never ever get bothered between market open and market close. The downside is that they can’t get lunch or anything, but the tradeoff is probably worth it. Research quants on the otherhand get bothered constantly.

> Your co-workers won’t schedule conference calls and meetings

Were it so easy.

I’d say 75% of requests for meetings I get conflict with something already in my calendar. Nobody bothers checking it before just flinging something in at a time that’s good for them, despite everyone’s calendar being visible to everyone else in the company, and having support for finding a free slot.

> everyone’s calendar being visible to everyone else in the company, and having support for finding a free slot.

As someone who is often trying to schedule C-level people in meetings, I can honestly promise there is no such thing as a "free slot". Eventually, one offers a decent meeting time and let the invitees sort out their own priorities.

This is hilarious!

The screenshot graphic on the home page didn't show up in my web browser but the apple store listing shows what it looks like.

I've known people that would use this so I expect they'll sell quite a few.

Made me laugh thinking about them.

Ha-ha, but am I the only one who thinks we've reached peak-passive-aggressive here? If you can't make a meeting, or don't think you have much to contribute, just decline like a grown-up and don't attend it. My calendar is usually booked 100% all days but I pick and choose which ones to attend, and it's never a big deal.

Almost all orgs will allow you to set your calendar to private, showing only "busy" or something similar. Just do this and make the fake meetings yourself.

that's way less fun

That reminds me http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html

Maybe there is no need to create fake items. Maybe one should schedule calendar items "Making X", "Implementing Y", "Researching Z"... for own best hours everyday and leave a couple of acceptable gaps for meetings?

I actually do this. I usually block out early morning for on hour at start of day for (Assessment and prioritization of projects), then I have one 2 hour block a day (that changes and is already scheduled for the week) thats assigned to dedicated project research. Other users simply see i'm booked during those periods and it makes it easy for me to plan around having a block of time for hard tasks.

No one has complained yet and in fact I even put down lunch breaks in there now to. It's cut down on excess meetings I have to attend and more importantly i'm able to have some control over time with projects where it may take an hour to get really into it.

I usually just use "Focus" or "Focus on $TOPIC"

Literally just out of a block of "Focus on Design Validation" (currently in a conference call).

But yeah, make appointments for yourself.

After 6 months of back to back meetings all day long all week I started doing this and it has been a lifesaver.

This is brilliant and I love it. Fortunately, I'm in (U.S.) academia, so other than one colleague, nobody tries to use outlook etc. calendars at me, but if they did I'd buy this in a hot second.

Square’s appointment service has a similar feature where it can block off appointment slots so customers can’t book. Presumably a fake-it-til ya make it feature.

I assume this isn't to look busy, but to accommodate for meetings or other reasons one might be unavailable.

This is a very funny idea. Would be nice to see more options for customizing event titles in the future.

Author here - let me know if you have any suggestions, it's easy to add more :)

It would be nice if the user could specify a title that will be used for all events.

I'd absolutely use this to block off some time for project work, and I have no reason not to label the events honestly ("Blocked off" or "Project X").

That's easy enough, e-mail me at aaron@lookbusy.app and I'll add you to the beta list

Seems like a great way for this app to access your calendar data ;)

This sounds like a gag gift version of Clockwise which is awesome and maximizes the blocks of time you have to focus. I get the gimmick but meh

Next up: room hogger books meeting rooms with fake reasons so I can spend all day doing quiet meditation.

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