Is Productivity Software A Waste Of Time?

If you answered yes, how do you know that? And if you said no, are you interested in being more productive? Ever since the management guru Peter Drucker invented the term 'knowledge worker' in 1959, people and business have been fascinated by the idea of productive knowledge work and how to measure it. In this article I'll discuss how productivity software is being used to help people use their time more effectively.

What is Productivity?

First let's define what we mean by productivity. The textbook definition shows productivity as output divided by input. For example, if output equals number of computers manufactured and input equals cost, then our measure of productivity is based on unit cost. With this very simple example you can see that increasing the number of computers produced and lowering the cost will dramatically increase the productivity.

There's an old saying that goes - "if you can't measure it, it doesn't exist." And this act of measurement is what underpins most productivity software from the super-expensive enterprise resource management tools down to standalone personal computer applications. What these mostly have in common is some form of graphical dashboard that provides feedback. Executive summary information is displayed using digital dials, meters and alerts. For those interested in more detail, a wide range of reports can be run and displayed or exported into other applications.

Relevant & Accurate Data

Of course the data provided to these applications must be relevant and accurate -- otherwise it's a case of "garbage in and garbage out." However, assuming the data is good, where the applications really excel is in number crunching far more information than could ever be done by hand. This makes it possible for just one person to monitor and analyze the productivity of systems that would have required possibly a team of people 20 years ago.

What about personal productivity? First of all you have to define what you mean by productivity. If you are an operator on an assembly line then this will probably have been worked out for you. In the case of knowledge workers there is often much more complexity and flexibility in what needs to be done.

Before going out and buying the latest and greatest personal productivity software tools, I recommend that you get very clear on what your goals and objectives are. Then, over time, you will be able to identify most of the inputs and outputs of your working day and how they tend to affect each other. You may not get a 100% crystal clear picture of all these variables but you should at least be able to identify them and write them down.

Improving Productivity

For example, if your job requires producing lots of spreadsheets on a regular basis then you can definitely improve your productivity by becoming better and faster at using the spreadsheet application. Getting the most from the tools you already have is an important part of being more productive. Here are three examples:
- Learning to use and program macros for frequently performed tasks.
- Tracking time spent on tasks using project management software tools.
- Eliminating distractions with a software tool that blacks out the screen except for the application being worked on. (Great for single tasking!)

The below mindmap illustrates a basic plan of action : Productivity Software

Some experienced knowledge workers go much further than just automate routine tasks. They recognize that creativity and productivity are related and use mind mapping software tools to brainstorm ways of improving and even tracking productivity. This can be a very productive positive feedback loop!