Research
The Papers
1. Energy as State, Not Time: Rethinking Productivity Models for Variable-Capacity Work
The anchor paper. Cognitive energy should be modeled as explicit application state, not inferred from time spent — the wh/ph/sd model, five discrete levels, and four design requirements.
2. The Myth of the Flat Workday: What Cognitive Science Already Knows About Variable Capacity
The evidence. A synthesis of five research domains — circadian rhythms, vigilance decrement, ADHD, depression, context switching — against the assumption of uniform capacity.
3. Self-Report Over Surveillance: The Case for User-Declared Cognitive State
The mechanism. Why asking beats sensing: the reliability, autonomy, and privacy problems of biometric inference, and four constraints that keep self-report non-coercive.
4. Capacity-Aware Software Design: A Pattern Language for Energy-Adaptive Applications
The engineering. Twelve reusable patterns — state modeling, adaptation behavior, safety constraints, system architecture — derived from the energy-system library.
5. Energy > Time: A Framework for Humane Work Design
The capstone. Extending energy-state thinking from individuals to teams, scheduling, evaluation, and tools — structure work around when real work is actually possible.