Sublime

productivity is the simple multiplication of its utilization times the average (realized) fee per hour. Again, we need to make the distinction between hygiene and health. A firm’s average chargeability (or utilization), which most firms appropriately monitor very carefully, is predominantly a short-run issue.

Being productive is about occupying your time—filling your schedule to the brim and getting as much as you can. Being effective is about finding more of your time unoccupied and open for other things besides work. Time for leisure, time for family and friends. Or time for doing absolutely nothing.

Productivity is the efficiency with which we convert inputs into outputs. In other words, how good are we at making things?

In most every other area of our economy, not only is productivity a well-defined concept, but it’s often central to how work unfolds. Indeed, much of the astonishing economic growth fueling modernity can be attributed to a more systematic treatment of this fundamental idea. Early uses of the term can be traced back to agriculture, where its meaning

Teams that work this way are more productive as long as productivity is measured by their ability to create customer value and not just stay busy.

And productivity for the knowledge worker means the ability to get the right things done. It means effectiveness.