Well, some day I had to quote the Guru anyway, so why not now.
Peter Drucker says SIX major factors determine knowledge worker productivity (KWP)
1. KWP demands that we ask the question what is the task?
2. It demands that we impose the responsibility for their productivity on the individual K workers themselves. KW have to manage themselves. They have to have AUTONOMY.
3. Continuing Innovation has to be part of the work, the task and the responsibility of KWs
4. KWork requires continuous learning on the part of K Worker, but equally continuous teaching on the part of K worker.
5. Productivity of KWorker is not - at least not primarily - a matter of quantity of output. Quality is at least as important.
6. Finally KWP requires that KW should be seen and treated as an asset rather than cost. It requires that KW wants to work for the organization in preference to all other opportunities.
Well, when the GURU speaks - we need to listen. All IT companies out there - please understand Kilo Lines of Code / Person Week is a ridiculous measure of productivity. In fact such a foolish measure actually!!!!
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2 comments:
I'm often asked to define productivity and its algorithm. Also, I often hear productivity, production, and capacity used interchangeable. For some reason this drives me nuts because they all have different meanings.
I hope my write up below helps you understand what productivity means.
What is productivity?
Productivity is the ratio of outputs (goods and services) divided by one or more inputs (labor hours, FTEs, capital, expenses).
Productivity = Outputs/Inputs
Improvements in productivity can be achieved by either increasing output without increasing the inputs, decreasing inputs without decreasing output, or increasing output and decreasing inputs.
Output implies production (quantity) of goods and services while input means land, labor, capital, management etc. Productivity measures the efficiency of the production system. Higher productivity means producing more from a given amount of input or producing a given amount with minimum level of inputs.
In other words, the more the output from one worker, one machine, or a piece of equipment per day per shift, the higher is the productivity (producing more output with the same resources).
Dan Feliciano Lean Six Sigma Rock Star
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Dan@DanFeliciano.com
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Well Dan, Thanks for your definition of productivity and your explanation. I did not define productivity as I think it is given.
These sort of repeat order definitions, unfortunately, does not help in anyway to define and compute knowledge worker productivity! I know that Six Sigma Rock Stars really need to change their music to understand knowledge-work - This is not Production as believed by the manufacturing mind-set. Thats exactly what Peter Drucker is saying, if one removes the rock star eye-shades.
What is the input to knowledge-work? What is the output of knmowledge-work?
Please answer these questions - after thinking about it deeply rather than quoting the textbooks of last century
May be then we can look at the ratio.
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