
Want to Be More Productive? Try Doing Less - prostoalex
https://hbr.org/2020/05/want-to-be-more-productive-try-doing-less
======
alexpetralia
I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but HBR seems to push
agenda-laden ideologies under the veneer of "science" or "business
experience", which really do not map onto what most people experience. As a
general source, I almost never trust HBR.

~~~
vikramkr
Any sort of business publication or book will be the same way. That's just the
nature of something as difficult or nearly impossible to quantify as business
"success" \- it's hard to tell what's luck, what's skill, what's skill
disguised as luck, and what's luck disguised as skill. Best to take everything
with a grain of salt, be on the lookout for those all too common fun
"counterintuitive" findings (procrastination is good!) That make for good
titles, etc.

~~~
perl4ever
I always thought it was not so much that it's incredibly difficult or
impossible to quantify, but more "Those who know do not speak. Those who speak
do not know".

------
Nginx487
The main issue with productivity, at least how we measure it for ourselves, is
that we underestimate our long-term productivity, and overestimate short-term,
which is often a reason for disappointment.

------
valuearb
I like the exercise the author lays out, but the rest is the worst of pop
psychology. Even if it’s true you are only truly focused for 6 hours a week on
average, that doesn’t mean you are only productive for 6 hours a week.

~~~
chadlavi
Though it would be nice if the exercise followed an example of someone trying
to actually do something instead of just working on their ego trip.

------
erikerikson
I understand the dissent in these comments but I also have prospered by
ensuring slack is mostly always present. It is effective self care but also
forces you to really prioritize and make hard calls rather than letting
circumstance make them for you. To do that you have to identify what you
really care about and let go of the rest and that really changes everything.

Consider the feelings around: oh sh*t, I have to accomplish more while doing
less? It really forces cutting the noise, being effective, and appreciating
what you really love.

------
nelsonic
The main issue with "productivity" is that the term is often misunderstood and
misused. Productivity is a measure of output. If you are working in a factory
making widgets you want high productivity. If you are doing creative/knowledge
work you don't want people writing _more_ lines of code or creating _more_
screens in an App, you want _less_! If I can achieve the same result with
fewer user interactions and fewer lines of code that's better UX! So measuring
a creative worker's output as "productivity" is actually misleading, instead
we should be measuring the effectiveness of the person. i.e. are they
achieving their OKRs with focus? A software engineer should not be measured on
lines of code or number of functions created this is a perverse incentive.
Instead they should be measured on how well their code meets the needs of the
user. This can still be a quantitative measure because we still have
engagement/conversion rates in our apps. Lose the word "productivity" when
describing what you do as a creative/tech worker it's a red herring.

------
temporama1
"For example, maybe you want to improve your Thought Leadership."

Lol. We really have peaked.

~~~
andi999
What is it actually supposed to mean? (Non native speaker here)

~~~
jon-wood
I am a native speaker and don’t really know what Thought Leadership is meant
to be, but any time I see something under that banner it seems to be
management consultants talking about solutions they’ve never actually
implemented.

~~~
type0
Maybe it means thinking better than others or thinking for others or both or
be a leader but at the same time also be able to think, who knows.

------
xenithorb
If we're going to criticize this, can we discuss reasons for why this
reductive method might be faulty?

------
mishftw
While I agree with the other comments saying this is a bit clickbaity, this
reminded me of Greg McEwon's Essentialism and Cal Newport's Deep Work.

