The Frustration with Productivity Culture
newyorker.com
The Frustration with Productivity Culture
1–10 of 110 posts
Re: The Frustration with Productivity Culture
#2The line about asking individual knowledge workers to optimize their own work hits me hard. I'm the only programmer in the office I work at. My boss has started telling people that they should take an hour every week to stop and think about how a small process can be done better/faster. The problem is that the longest and most important part of what they do isn't some manual task, but a mental process (they are digital artists). I doubt most people are going to intuitively solve the complexity of their own brains through introspection (as some early psychologists thought we could do). It's easier for me to 'optimize' because I can manipulate how a physical computer operates. It's hard for anyone to manipulate how their intuitive functions work besides slowly gaining experience and mastery.
Re: The Frustration with Productivity Culture
#3Hi, productive person here. I'm also frustrated by my own productivity, tbh... some days I wish I languished more, to take in the moments as they come without any influence on my part to their outcome.
Re: The Frustration with Productivity Culture
#4Is the article essentially arguing that work should be made easier for knowledge workers — so they aren't as stressed out? I assume it'd fall on these knowledge workers to build the better systems that would simplify their day-to-day work.
Re: The Frustration with Productivity Culture
#5Hi, productive person here. I'm also frustrated by my own productivity, tbh... some days I wish I languished more, to take in the moments as they come without any influence on my part to their outcome.
Take some of my languishing. I have plenty to spare at the moment.
Re: The Frustration with Productivity Culture
#6Re: The Frustration with Productivity Culture
#7Maybe I'm workaholic, but do people like friction in their work? I mean, we should certainly push back against anyone that thinks that we should increase productivity through sheer force of will (or hours, or sacrificing mind and body). But I've always found the meta-work to be the most interesting part of the work. Especially if it means I can spend more time in a state of productive flow.
Re: The Frustration with Productivity Culture
#8Definitely room for improving processes, think there is large scope for productivity increases just in our wider work culture.
Too many people trying to CYA (Cover Your A*), things like email acknowledgments and people requesting things when they know the answer is no, but solely so they can prove they actioned something or tried to go the "extra mile".
Re: The Frustration with Productivity Culture
#9It's easy to have the wrong mindset around productivity. If an individual thinks that doing more always leads to better results, they're going to have a bad time. I use productivity as a tool to have __more__ personal time and reduce stress. I really think about what I'm doing and what impact it has on my day.
From what I've seen, working in large corporate environments, is that people make their own productivity prisons doing things that no one asked for or working late hours on something no one is waiting for. Individuals create the stress for themselves by trying to standout or impress others.
If someone doesn't care about career progression, which I'm assuming is most of the anti-productivity crowd, they can get along just fine at almost any company doing only the minimum requirements of a role, have a fair work/life balance, and live a normal life.
If someone takes a mid six figure comp package from a major tech company, they should expect to work hard going into that role. Those jobs aren't for everyone. There are plenty of less stressful work environments in technology that will pay someone a decent salary and will be much less demanding.
Re: The Frustration with Productivity Culture
#10It's easy to have the wrong mindset around productivity. If an individual thinks that doing more always leads to better results, they're going to have a bad time. I use productivity as a tool to have __more__ personal time and reduce stress. I really think about what I'm doing and what impact it has on my day. From what I've seen, working in large corporate environments, is that people make their own productivity pri…
> There are plenty of less stressful work environments in technology that will pay someone a decent salary and will be much less demanding.
There are?! Could you list some examples? I would take a pay cut for fewer responsibilities if I could stay in tech and if it didn't pay like thirty grand, which is what you will make in support.
How do I transition from a high stress high pay software engineer to a medium pay low stress other kind of technology worker like you have described???