Use of the Pseudonym

A friend and i were discussing the use of our real name versus the use of a pseudonym when writing.

For me, i have always envisioned a book on the shelf (of a bookstore) with my name on it, so the use of a pseudonym has never been a serious issue with me.
But if i was to use a pseudonym how would i go about choosing the best name to grab a potential readers interest? It would be much like the creation of the character's name i think. And to me this opens up a whole space of confusion and stress that is not needed.

My friend made the point that the use of a pseudonym is appealing for the fact that if your story was to fail - after being successfully published it gets bad reviews etc - the name shields you from anyone knowing it was YOU.
But then if it was very successful it also retains your anonymity if you are shy and don't want to be stopped by people you know who have heard of your book.

Personally i would want to be recognised for my hardwork. Otherwise what would be the point of all the hours at the computer, all the deleted and agonised words, all the successful paragraphs and chapters?

But then comes the other issue.

What part of your name do you use? Would you use just the initials and then your surname like J.K Rowling? Or perhaps your first name followed by your middle initial and then your last name? What about the whole shebang? Or do you perhaps just use part of your name to make it shorter, like if your name was Stevenson would you shorten it to Stevens?

So not only does a writer have the dilemma of finding the perfect name for the characters of a work and the title (which i have heard the publisher may not use anyway), they also have to figure out what name is going to be showcased on the work for the public eye.

Name vs Pseudonym.
What do you think?