A lot of companies like to measure productivity. What these measurements come down to is how much can we produce in an hour or a day or a week? Then they use that number to look for trends, such as “We are getting more productive over time”.
This sounds good. But as a primary indicator, it falls flat. Why does it matter that we produce more with the same people? It implies that our production costs are going down, but that is not necessarily a good thing. (If your production is up, cost is down, but the product is full of errors, then as a customer I am not happy. If production is up because of a lot of unreported overtime, then as your employee I am not happy.) It could also imply that we are doing more faster, which is also not necessarily a good thing. (More stuff that no one wants is not good. Getting there faster when the destination is wrong is not good.)
Consider these scenarios:
Leonard Cohen took more than 2 years to write the song “Hallelujah” http://1heckofaguy.com/2010/05/10/bob-dylan-covers-leonard-cohens-hallelujah/, one of the most popular and successful songs of our time.
Bob Dylan (in the same article) claims to have written some of his songs in as little as 15 minutes.
So obviously Bob Dylan is way more productive than Leonard Cohen. Does it matter?
Piers Anthony has published more than 150 books since 1969 (43 years), or about 3.5 books a year. http://www.hipiers.com/bibliography.html
Stephen King has published 69 books since 1974 (38 years) or not quite 2 books a year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King_bibliography
By that measure, Piers Anthony is much more productive than Stephen King. Does it matter?
Productivity only becomes interesting after we have answered far more important questions: Did we get the right product to market at the right time? And we ask: Was the cost of producing the product worth it compared to the value we as a company received from the sales of that product?
If the answers to those questions are yes, then productivity becomes a more interesting measure. But only after we have asked and answered the more important questions. Once we know we are doing the right thing, then is the time to do it more efficiently, and productivity measures become interesting.
Tom and Geri