The Productivity Paradox

Apr 7, 2011 // by Tim Ruswick // Productivity // 2 Comments

The concept of productivity has been around since day one, but only relatively recently with the rise of industry has it become vital in every day life. From Fred Flintstone at the rock quarry, to farmer John and his crops in Iowa, the demand of things that are needed by consumers pushes us to constantly do the same things, only faster. With technology booming like never before, and blazing fast computers to do our dirty work, productivity is at an all time high…or is it?

As entrepreneurs, we all like to think we’re extremely productive. We all like to believe that not only can we get things done in impossible deadlines, but we can juggle 10 different things at once and have them all come out perfect.

As if that wasn’t enough, the recent trends in technology only aid our belief system…Now that we have an iphone, blackberry, or android superphone we can not only check email and respond to clients while we’re at the office, but also at dinner, in the car, and on that desolate tropical island in the middle of nowhere chillin’ with a tiki totem pole.

With the push in technology and the little invention called the internet, computers, phones, and devices in general are getting stronger, smarter, and faster every day.

Lets backtrack a little though…

From the early 1970′s to the early 1990′s, many believed that this technology boom was dramatically impacting the entire world’s productivity. I mean, they now had a PERSONAL COMPUTER…a little machine that they could type letters on without starting over for a typo on a type writer. How COULDN’T that make the world more productive?

We embraced this technology, and assumed it was making the world a better place – but as with most wrongfully made assumptions, people see what they want to see.

Now don’t get me wrong, had I been a betting man alive during the majority of this time period, I probbably would have been right there with them…but in the past couple of years I’ve learned a few things about facts. Mainly, they’re the only things you can bet on.

When the facts came out, everyone saw that just because the amount and impact of technology shot up, the production line remained flat. There had been little or no fluctuation in the productivity of workers based solely on the increase of technology in the world – but that didn’t stop the assumptions.

So fast forward a little to the new millennium:

It is the peak of the .com era. Contractors, business men, and corporations all around the globe saw the facts, and understood them, But even armed with three decades of data that said otherwise, they ASSUMED that the internet was different. They assumed it changed everything.

Now not only was the internet and global communication getting easier, but it was getting more mobile too. People had mobile telephones, email, direct synchronization and communication between teams that were thousands of miles away. Of course it was making people more productive…right?!?!?

Wrong again.

With the explosion of the internet, something unexpected occurred. The platform that was once built solely for the business man now had value to the household as well. Not only was it useful, but since you could access the internet from anywhere, the same things you do online at work could be done at home…but the opposite was true as well.

Along came MySpace. Facebook. YouTube. Heck, even Google for the information freaks.

The flat productivity line, despite what everyone had assumed, started to curve downward.

Fast forward again to over a decade later

It is now 2011. Not only can cellphones fit in your pocket, but they have more processing power and memory then super computers did in the 80′s.

Everyone, especially the entrepreneur, is addicted to information flow. Most of them cant go a day without their email or facebook, let alone the internet itself. The majority of the population doesn’t even have a use for a computer without the internet.

With a multitude of devices feeding us the weather, the news and our friend’s most intimate moments posted for the world to see 24/7, our attention span is shorter then ever. When a random thought pops into our head, we pull out our phone and type it into Google. We now pay attention to all of this information, that in the grand scheme of things, really doesn’t matter at all.

The fact that we ASSUME we can do all of these things at once only makes it worse.

So engrain it in your head that you make false assumptions. From this point on, base your decisions on facts…Facts like how you spend too much time surfin’ the ‘net, and not enough time working. Facts like the intteruption every 15 minutes to check your email is killing your productivity. And finally, the fact that you really cant do more then one thing at a time without sacrificing the quality of your work.

So focus, ignore, concentrate, relax, and separate work from play.

Don’t fall into the Productivity Paradox.

Source:
MIT PAPER: The Productivity Paradox of Information Technology: Review and Assessment
By: Erik Brynjolfsson
Photo credit: http://www.codinghorror.com