Productivity tracking vs. surveillance. If you have to track my mouse, you’ve already failed as a manager.

Let’s be real for a second about the state of remote management right now.

I’ve been seeing a massive spike in posts about Bossware. A software that supposedly doesn’t just track deadlines, but also activity. This means random screenshots, mouse movement logs, and green circle fixation.

We’ve reached a point where productivity is just a fancy word for ‘how much you click your mouse’.

There is a huge difference between output and activity. If I finish a project three days early and spend the rest of the afternoon walking my dog or doing laundry, that IS efficiency, NOT time theft. But in this new surveillance culture, efficiency feels like it’s being punished. If you finish early, you’re idle… you’re wasting time…

So what happens? We get Productivity Theater.

• People buy mouse jigglers.
• We schedule fake meetings with ourselves to appear busy on Teams or Slack.
• We stretch 2 hours of work into 8 hours just to avoid flagging an algorithm.

At some point, you just have to say no. To me, these are the clear signals that it’s time to jump ship (or at least start looking around for a life raft):

1. Webcam requirements: Demanding cameras be always on while you work silently is not collaboration—it’s a panopticon!
2. Keylogging: If IT wants to install root-level monitoring on your personal device? Nah… absolutely not.
3. Metric fixation: When they stop acting like a manager and start acting like a digital babysitter, asking why you went offline for 15 minutes instead of asking if the project is on track.

I’d love to hear your horror stories! Has anyone here actually dealt with this invasive Bossware? What is the most ridiculous metric a micromanager has tried to use against you?