Comments on: Proxies for productivity, and why no one trusts teleworkers http://strange.corante.com/2008/11/04/proxies-for-productivity-and-why-no-one-trusts-teleworkers Picking out patterns in the chaos Tue, 22 May 2012 20:15:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Ben Gimpert http://strange.corante.com/2008/11/04/proxies-for-productivity-and-why-no-one-trusts-teleworkers#comment-3732 Ben Gimpert Mon, 08 Dec 2008 07:27:32 +0000 http://strange.corante.com/2008/11/04/proxies-for-productivity-and-why-no-one-trusts-teleworkers#comment-3732 Excellent and insightful post, Suw. Excellent and insightful post, Suw.

]]> By: Suw Charman-Anderson http://strange.corante.com/2008/11/04/proxies-for-productivity-and-why-no-one-trusts-teleworkers#comment-3622 Suw Charman-Anderson Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:55:15 +0000 http://strange.corante.com/2008/11/04/proxies-for-productivity-and-why-no-one-trusts-teleworkers#comment-3622 Oh yes, I was going to talk about software developers. In a way, you guys epitomise what's wrong with current ways of thinking about productivity. If one were to measure number of lines of code written that would encourage not thrifty coding, but messy and verbose coding which we all know (even if we aren't coders!) is a bad idea. The sloppy developer who uses 20 lines to do what can be done in 2 would be rewarded more than the efficient one, so again, the system would reward bad behaviour. And I agree with you that we need to question whether or not we should be measuring productivity at all, whether it actually means anything. But regardless of that, we do, consciously or not, automatically keep an eye on our colleagues and make judgements over whether or not we think they are working as hard as we are. We are judgemental creatures for whom status is important, so that's never going to go away. If we get rid of some proxies, though, that wouldn't be a bad thing. Oh yes, I was going to talk about software developers. In a way, you guys epitomise what’s wrong with current ways of thinking about productivity. If one were to measure number of lines of code written that would encourage not thrifty coding, but messy and verbose coding which we all know (even if we aren’t coders!) is a bad idea. The sloppy developer who uses 20 lines to do what can be done in 2 would be rewarded more than the efficient one, so again, the system would reward bad behaviour.

And I agree with you that we need to question whether or not we should be measuring productivity at all, whether it actually means anything. But regardless of that, we do, consciously or not, automatically keep an eye on our colleagues and make judgements over whether or not we think they are working as hard as we are. We are judgemental creatures for whom status is important, so that’s never going to go away. If we get rid of some proxies, though, that wouldn’t be a bad thing.

]]> By: Chris Mear http://strange.corante.com/2008/11/04/proxies-for-productivity-and-why-no-one-trusts-teleworkers#comment-3617 Chris Mear Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:26:23 +0000 http://strange.corante.com/2008/11/04/proxies-for-productivity-and-why-no-one-trusts-teleworkers#comment-3617 Very perceptive piece. Even with software developers, people whose job still involves, in a sense, 'making something', productivity is still something which is difficult to measure. And that's before you even start to question whether 'measuring' productivity as if it were some objective quantity makes sense at all. Or, in other words: commits != productivity: http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Productivity-20.aspx Very perceptive piece. Even with software developers, people whose job still involves, in a sense, ‘making something’, productivity is still something which is difficult to measure. And that’s before you even start to question whether ‘measuring’ productivity as if it were some objective quantity makes sense at all.

Or, in other words: commits != productivity:

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Productivity-20.aspx

]]> By: Strange Attractor » Blog Archive » The nature of work - visible, invisible, and that doesn’t look like work http://strange.corante.com/2008/11/04/proxies-for-productivity-and-why-no-one-trusts-teleworkers#comment-3616 Strange Attractor » Blog Archive » The nature of work - visible, invisible, and that doesn’t look like work Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:13:30 +0000 http://strange.corante.com/2008/11/04/proxies-for-productivity-and-why-no-one-trusts-teleworkers#comment-3616 [...] work - visible, invisible, and that doesn't look like worklinks for 2008-11-06links for 2008-11-05Proxies for productivity, and why no one trusts teleworkerslinks for 2008-11-04When context switching becomes thrashinglinks for 2008-11-01links for [...] [...] work - visible, invisible, and that doesn’t look like worklinks for 2008-11-06links for 2008-11-05Proxies for productivity, and why no one trusts teleworkerslinks for 2008-11-04When context switching becomes thrashinglinks for 2008-11-01links for [...]

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