distributedlife

This biggest problem I have with the dentist, and it is not the drill, is that you have no idea how much longer the drilling is going to take. It’s not exactly the most comfortable experience and if a nerve gets hit the comfort levels tend to bottom out.

Yesterday I asked my dentist to give me a status update whenever she paused to remove the rubble. I don’t mean the “not much longer” answer your mother gives you. More of a semi-detailed explanation.

I have about 30 seconds of drilling to finish on the first hole and then its about another minute on the second.

It took no less time than it normally would and it didn’t take her any longer to let me know of the status. What It did do was make the entire experience much more relaxing. I knew how much longer I had to have my mouth stretched open for.

30 seconds. Nothing. Another minute? Take your time. I’ve got an hour.

The point of all this is that the perception of how long a task will take is important. This is especially so if you don’t like being involved in the task. This concept exist in software usability as perceived performance. Jeff Atwood on Coding Horror has a good summarising post.

It’s worth having a think about what else could be made less stressful just by knowing, or sharing, a bit more information about how something is progressing. As a matter of fact I may just go ask my girlfriend how much longer this relationship is going to last.

note: That was a joke.