Knowledge
Improving your knowledge to complete a task more quickly. Productivity can be measured as a task completion time.Take a perl scripting class to reduce the amount of time I spend developing and customizing scripts. Target: the ability to write a simple script in an hour where it is currently taking me 5 - 10 hours.
Automation
Automating work to reduce the human effort required to achieve outputs.Automate the conversion of media to client deliverables and the packaging of deliverables for clients. Goal: reduce time spent preparing deliverables by 2 hours per deliverables package.
Tools
Machines, equipment and tools that allow you to produce more with your efforts. For this purpose, productivity can be measured as business volume per hour.Purchase a combine harvester to improve harvest productivity to 30 tons of grain per hour.
Process Improvement
Measuring processes, improving and measuring again. This can be measured in output per hour worked.Identify and address bottlenecks in the production process to improve widgets per hour worked to 50.
Outsourcing
Offloading things you're not good at to focus on areas where you are most productive. For example, an artist who hires a freelance accountant to handle their finances. This type of productivity improvement can be measured in terms of your increased core output as the outsourcing is viewed as a cost.Complete 12 more works a year by offloading administrative tasks to a freelance assistant.
Time Management
Improving your use of time to create more value. If you want to measure the value that you are producing in the long term you can measure productivity in terms of outcomes per year.Spend more time improving dishes and interacting with customers to produce 20% more positive reviews as compared to last year.
Prioritization
Identifying and pursuing your most productive opportunities. For example, a salesperson might measure their productivity in terms of their win rate that represents the percentage of deals they pursue that result in revenue.Score and prioritize leads to improve win rate to 43%.
Management
Managers often try to improve the productivity of entire teams. For example, a software development manager may measure productivity in terms of lines of code per day as measured by final production code per developer divided by total hours spent on a project.Improve software development output to 30 lines of code per day by allowing developers who demonstrate they are productive at home to work from home 3 days a week.
Executive Management
Executive management may attempt to increase the productivity of entire organizations. This can be measured as revenue per employee.Increase revenue per employee to $450,000 by cutting administrative overhead.
Summary
Time is more or less fixed such that productivity improvements are the primary way for an individual to increase the amount of value they produce. Productivity can be increased with talent, processes and tools.
| Overview: Productivity Goals | ||
Type | ||
Definition | Objectives to increase the amount of value created in a unit of time such as an hour or month. | |
Common Methods | KnowledgeAutomationTools & EquipmentProcess ImprovementOutsourcing / DelegatingTime ManagementPrioritizationWorking ConditionsReducing Administrative Burden | |
Common Measurements | Task Completion TimeBusiness Volume Per HourOutcomes Per YearRevenue Per Employee | |
Related Concepts | ||
