It was from this uncertainty that a simple alternative emerged: using visible activity as a crude proxy for actual productivity. If you can see me in my office—or, if I’m remote, see my email replies and chat messages arriving regularly—then, at the very least, you know I’m doing something

Simply put, people think that other people are paying way more attention to them than they really are.

tracking not only employee productivity but also social interactions—“social physics,” as computer scientist Alex Pentland calls this new genre of sociometric data.