# Work After the Productivity Age By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2024-05-06 Productivity is increasingly hard to define. Before the industrial revolution, it wasn't something many, if anyone, thought about. People certainly weren't defined by it like they are today. The idea of continuous work came with the factories and assembly lines, resulting in immediately measurable outcomes and management science. The objective and fuel igniting the economic boom of the 20th century was how many widgets could be produced per hour. However, we are well beyond this, as most work is impossible to measure in any meaningful and objective way. Knowledge work continues to rise and dominate the economic landscape while befuddling the productivity gurus and their management followers. The core of the problem is that knowledge is not an objective and predetermined outcome, so the paradigm of assembly line productivity has no application. Attempting to apply this definition of productivity to knowledge work is like trying to build a house on the side of a hill made of loose sand. Thus, any attempts to measure and manage from this perspective will be met with endless frustration as the house keeps sliding down the hill and tearing itself apart. Productivity hacks and best practices are primarily a reflection of the cultural and economic sentiment of the time rather than something proven to work. When the economy is 'good,' knowledge work productivity hacks are positive (e.g., getting stuff done). When the economy is 'bad,' the productivity hacks are negative (e.g., quiet quitting). These pendulum swings reflect the need to think in a different dimension, not to continue to define and redefine productivity. This will likely mean three things. First, the end of objective management as a means of control. Second, the re-incorporation of the self and work as a way to find meaning. Third, accepting work variability and chaos as a means to thrive. Any organization that embraces these things early will be lightyears ahead of its competition. #### Related Items [[Productivity]] [[Work]] [[Future]] [[Management]] [[Organization]] [[Knowledge]] [[Knowledge Work]] [[Self-Actualization]] [[Chaos]]