There's a fairly healthy ecosystem of commitment contract sites. I associate Stickk with one particular format which is contracts with money on the line by a specific date. It looks like DependaPal is more along the lines of checking in with a friend to keep you in line.
My favorite of these is Beeminder which doesn't have the social features, but it does a great job of graphing your progress and putting money on the line as you go off track in the short term.
Article mentions the shift to "unlimited vacations". Sounds like it worked at Neflix, larger companies are starting to move toward unlimited vacation model, but it appears that it's driven by not having carry accrued paid time off on the books and studies that show that people actually take less vacation under unlimited plans. How is it done at your company?
Unfortunately, I was one of the shoppers at Target. It's fascinating how different issuers are dealing with the problem. It seems that many are waiting to reissue the cards, so the consumer can continue to shop during the busy time.
