Slashdot Mirror
How IT Increases Productivity
Several readers wrote to tell us about a groundbreaking study reported in Computerworld. Researchers at Boston University and MIT analyzed how IT makes people more productive at an individual level. They gathered more than 125,000 email messages, 5 years of project data, and survey responses to see what factors predicted revenue generation and completed projects. Abstracts for the original articles are available. Among the surprises: IT didn't necessarily make projects faster but it did dramatically increase productivity by facilitating multitasking; and IT-supported social networks predicted productivity better than experience did.
Since the burnout rate in IT is high, is this increased productivity good or bad?
Is it elevating your blod pressure to stand behind less productive people in the
self-checkout line? How much more productive is Windows XP than Windows 2000 for
you (if you lean in that direction). ThHe answer for me is zero. Or less than zero
actually.
-------
aside:
BTW anyone else notic Windows 2000 seems to have a built in autodestruct that causes
strange boot loader problems (INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE)? Proper restore last 6-12
months and then does the same thing again. Bug?
... given that browsing slashdot is most likely a sign of lacking productivity.
But we found that heavier IT users are much heavier multitaskers, so over time, they're completing more projects and bringing in more money for the firm.
This was a common question given during interviews I took part in during my endless job hunts (I was employed but there's always something better out there). Anyway, every time it was asked I simply replied, "I would expect that nearly everyone in my generation is able to multitask effectively as we've grown up our entire lives with it."
Now, while I'm a little bit outside the "Social Networking Generation", I grew up using computers, watching TV, talking with friends and successfully completing written tasks. This, while completely foreign and thus inappropriate according to my parents, has carried into my work life and made me a very effective worker.
It may be worthwhile studying now only because some of the older individuals in the workforce didn't grow up completely immersed in the same multitasking oriented environment those that are 30 and under have.
In the future it won't be a question, it will be an expectation -- along with more work.
The article doesn't mention what productivity is, or how the study meaured it. Without this, it's difficult to put their findings into context. Is productivity simply getting assigned tasks done? Does it take into account the quality of the output? Does it consider whether people were able to make great leaps in productivity through innovation?
"In the future it won't be a question, it will be an expectation -- along with more work."
Like a candle lit on both ends.
Health Problems Related to the Geek Lifestyle
What Do You Do at Work?
Games As A Multitasking Aid?
Multitasking Harmful To Productivity
My boss and I are a severe contrast as far as the "social networks" part of this article goes. We are both SysAdmins, but he avoids everyone outside IT while I intentionally network all over the place. Naturally, I think my way is better and now there is a study that confirms it!
Seriously, every job I have had has had appallingly poor communications. As a result, I always end up figuring out how to get plugged into the grapevine. If I didn't, I would always be a day late and a dollar short. His logic in avoiding people is that he doesn't like getting called directly when something is broken, as he believes most of the "crises" are minor. I agree with him that we want people to use proper channels (Level 1 support then Level 2 and so on), but very few of them violate protocol more than once in a great while. Frankly, I have found that if they are violating protocol, it's urgent enough that I am glad they are calling me directly. If they fell through the cracks due to an improperly submitted support ticket, things would get really ugly. Guess what, when things are already ugly out there, tickets tend to get submitted improperly.
"When I'm the Boss"(TM) I want to deliberately set up "irregular" communication channels so the imporatnt things are addressed. How about an anonymous suggestion box? What about using an anonymous brainstorming session like I saw at the Thunderbird School of Business back in 1993? Heck, why not have all hands meetings once or twice each year, more frequently at the department level?
Speaking of communication, it is a drag on productivity to the extent that you have to formally track so much of what you are doing. It is a necessary evil, to some extent. At the same time, when I'm trying to figure out if a server is a chronic pain, it helps if there is a trail of tickets to be found naming said dog.
Back to being something of a Social Butterfly at work. Last week, I got invited to an informal luncheon that included the Big Dogs of the corporation. That face time probably didn't hurt me none.
In principio erat Verbum.
Duh.. sure they do. But you don't talk about a "career" in calculators nowadays.
That's what's happening to IT. You don't need a degree to operate a calculator and the user-friendly microsoft operating systems are doing just that : the computer to calculator conversion. IT is only a commodity.
just my $0.02
Horray for job security!!! Finally something to feed those intent on slashing budgets in the name of "fiscal priorities".
I am happy.
No words of wisedom here.
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C1 bottles of beer on the wall. Take one down, pass it round... Oh, umm...
Of IT Productive People, you mean.
For example, JabberKatz(tm) replaces the work of one person, Jon Katz, with the output one program. Amazing! We bow in glory of Andrey Markov. All praise be Him, forever and ever, amen.
And now the article:
Here Comes the Weblog
The members of electronic communities like Slashdot come together in the first 18 months alone.
Until the mid-90s, Microsoft was the technological Godhead. Everyone involved with computing or the network hated, used, exploited or feared it. That's no longer true.
Once upon a time, journalists felt free to take the Y2K bug.
Small, chanting bands of nerdy looking people parading outside of Microsoft offices in different parts of the company were photographed on TV and film, in games. But geeks are getting plenty of attention now.
One of the persistent myths about the Net and the Web sites they use.
Metallica's lawsuit, filed two weeks ago in California, an exchanged excerpted on NPR.
CNN websites said they'd served a record 154. million page impressions for the Month of March, double the traffic a year ago, CSI seemed promising. Now it's great and getting steadily better. And as I said earlier, kids in their rooms -- to raise public policy issues which, over the weekend, a few of the posts -- pro and con -- responding to my columns about virtual property and my questions about whether they can possibly survive as new media technologies. The report makes few useful distinctions between newborns and teenagers about to head off for college or the workplace - all patients would be subject to this latest in a series).
Had the government intervened a decade ago, the guardians of information were referred to as The Holy Circle.
Last week, CNN devoted a whole program to the Net for $1 and actually make more than they do.
Now, younger men online are interested in the news and go online tend to watch less TV news all the time (The rise of the Net, under siege from some of our culture's brightest people -- scientists, academics, scholars and scientists are comparing the rise of Geek Cinema:
In this case, a former football hero, is having marital troubles, and isn't really possible to recreate, much like the child-snatching scare of the 80's or other media-driven hysterias. It essentially one more ephemeral media hysteria, supported by little in the way different people perceive the same culture.
In fact, prosperity and the acquisition of technology have become this society's hallmark; it doesn't really matter, the Skywalker gang, none of whom are muscle-heads. They're more likely to have an airplane fall out of the sky and kill them than they are to be shot in school, despite the power of the government action against Microsoft is clear enough, so I never really felt left out. But I still wish one existed. On a spaceship that sends trained monkeys out in pods rather than risking humans, Capt Davidson's favorite, Pericles, gets lost in a nebula. It's a much more visceral, personal experience. They are, says Jesse, a small market town in southern France.
" He died before this city - he called it EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) could be built, and it sold a week later for $521. Two weeks ago, a movie theater and help kids trying to get more than a sale of service.
It's easy to be cyncical about votes from Chicago cemeteries, but the directors aren't entirely sure where to start, but here it has all the punch of some wet paper towels.
Increasingly, such bigness has become linked with technology. The age of proprietorship may have ended yesterday, as a journalist becomes one, which is why he adroitly parceled out bits of " Phantom " products. According to Variety, C.S.I. has become the world's most powerful cultural forces. it transforms the relationships between consumers and vendors of information.
But until recently, dominated our social, political or idealistic network. It has worked astonishingly well, longer than almost any journalist working in the capitol and
Among the surprises: IT didn't necessarily make projects faster but it did dramatically increase productivity by facilitating multitasking
So people were able to do more, and yet the projects don't necessarily get completed faster. And this is supposedly an increase in productivity? I don't care if you look busier. I want the job DONE.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
You mean is supposed to make people more productive? I thought it was playing games, and reading at work tipping off the boss by having a book /magazine/newspaper visible.
You do know you can't really multitask, right? Any multitasking requires context switching. Any additional task makes you 20% slower and dumber than you'd be if you concentrated at just one task. So I'd rather live in a future that took this into account and at least tried to serialize tasks for individuals somewhat. That's where the next productivity boost will come from.
I for one welcome our new following, who are now welcoming their IT overlords, who would be us.
Indoctrinate : to instruct especially in fundamentals or rudiments Educate : to develop mentally, morally, or aestheti
I know it's unavoidable in the business world but, as a programmer, there is nothing worse than multitasking. Other activities are like this too. You need *full* attention to what is going on. Often the task switching time ruins your productivity because complex problems aren't quickly swapped out of brain cache. I like to focus and get it done. I've only had one boss that has really tried, where possible, to make this a reality. Multitasking works well for tasks that don't require much thought, reflection, or detail.
Fresh horses and more whiskey for my men.
"After a few months, I had stripped parts out of most of them, and had 2 of them working. How many teenagers had a pair of 26" TVs in their room? In the late 70's?"
Considering the high voltages used. Maybe the question should have been. How do children survive childhood?
Surely the best way to use IT to increase productivity is to encourage employees to spend lots of time on Slashdot.
Wait, did I say "best"? I meant "worst". My bad.
Soylent Green is peoplicious!
Among the surprises: IT didn't necessarily make projects faster but it did dramatically increase productivity by facilitating multitasking
So, they did more, but it still took them the same length of time to do stuff...
*squibble*
Translation: We were still working at the same pace, but we also chatted on IM and viewed pr0n on the company T1.
If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.
Information, Technology and Information Worker Productivity: Task Level Evidence (DRAFT!)0 6/022806.pdf
k ets/docs/bulkley-strategies.pdf
http://www.stern.nyu.edu/ciio/WorkOnline/IS200520
An Empirical Analysis of Strategies and Efficiencies in Social Networks
http://128.135.211.53/research/workshops/orgs-mar
Look at who they're studying:
We looked at white-collar workers -- executive recruiters.
Not office workers in general - executive recruiters are in no way shape or form representative of general office workers. Not groundbreaking and quantity does not equal quality if the basis of the study is limited.
Look at who the sponsors were:
The National Science Foundation, Cisco Systems Inc. and Intel Corp. sponsored their work.
Cisco and Intel have a vested interest in encouraging IT use. The NSF will fund anything that follows their science guidelines.
Look at where it was presented:
at the International Conference on Information Systems, the largest academic IT conference in the world.
That sounds impressive to a non-academic. Until you realize that a large conference means lowest common denominator standards. Academic conferences in general are much easier to publish in than academic journals.
Look at the results:
IT didn't necessarily make projects faster but it did dramatically increase productivity by facilitating multitasking; and IT-supported social networks predicted productivity better than experience did.
Lovely piece of spin there. IT use was orthogonal to productivity. Phones were regarded as "IT". Face-to-face meetings were implicitly regarded as "IT".
They found that executive recruiters, who have the job of recruiting people, had a higher success rate when they communicated with more people.
Well, duh.
This study is a great example of the sponsors getting the result they payed for: some astroturf to encourage the use of IT technology.
Based on the ComputerWorld article the study itself seems reasonable but is narrowly focused and justifies almost none of the comments being made here about IT increasing the productivity of the average office worker.
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Monopolies = Industrial feudalism
What a lot of these comments are investigating is *types* of multitasking.
... is five hours. Any inserted tasks will cost the raw insertion time, and double the switch time because of lost partial thoughts. No one can possibly argue that the insertions helped the project.
s 1/test-2007-04-17.txt and then their phone rings, they're cooked.
Consider the Single Person Project: Worker X has to do something which will take approximately five hours at 75% of his capabilities. I consider this the highest sustainable performance level. Optimal completion time
What happened is that someone else wanted a data fragment, and used the authority assistance of the boss. Together they decided that the ability to further their task by acquiring the LynchPin data fragment was more important than the *perceived* loss of time on the Project.
However, a logical fallacy that rewards minimizing the true time cost leads many managers to miscalculate the *cumulative effects* of these interruptions. The first may not be so bad, but seven interruptions later, the Project Performer is likely thoroughly demoaralized, and loses FURTHER productivity.
If worker X doesn't have any 5-hour projects lined up, then all the glorious gains of IT appear because email is an asynchronous communication. Email request for data appears; Begin looking up data fragment; deal with spot-request from Boss; finish looking up data; email answer back.
Email is also far crisper for certain types of data. If you verbally tell someone the log is at Q:/ProgramSuite/Program/BetaDev/Tests/Daily/Serie
However, a phone conversation is better for interchanges in which someone needs serial answers to a complete problem. A solid phone call can get more done in 15 minutes than three days of email.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
The position of having to know everything from ethernet wiring to set up websites using LAMP and anything in between is completely ludicrous.
If I don't know how to wire something I will look it up online, even if it is an ehternet connection, it is not like it is hte only one in the universe.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Let me see if I can summarize the article: If you spend all your time talking to people, they tend to respond immediately, so you tend to get the job done quicker, but you'll get fewer jobs done because you're spending all your time talking to people. If you spend all your time emailing people, it takes longer for them to respond. You can spend that time emailing other people, so you can get more jobs done but they take longer. Duh.
were occurring right at that magic age around 25, when we tend to loose that elasticity of brain that allows us to hold more complex logic structures in our heads
No, the brain remains compliant as long as you keep it challenged. Case in point, Chess "Super" GrandMaster Anatoly Karpov recently returned from retirement to participate in a major tournament and actually went un-defeated...besting other "Super" Grandmaster's including Kasparov....Based on that tournament, his estimated ELO would have been over 2900....and many noted that, if anything, he's become stronger.
Many people in the competitive chess world think as you do. That is, if you don't make GM by the age of 20, you never will. I'm about twice that age and just started playing competitively - never really played before but I took the game up primarily to keep my mind active. Good thing I don't subscribe to the theory that I should be "loosing my ability to hold complex logic structures in my head".
For another example, where I currently work I sometimes get asked questions from the younger engineers. One day, one of them asked me how I was able to remember all of this stuff given that I've been out of college so long. I told him that the vast majority of what I learned was after I graduated.
In college, you are forced to apply yourself. After that, you're on your own. It's not age that causes you to lose your mental sharpness, it's atrophy....you lose if you don't use it. If you stay physically active, you remain physically fit, if you stay mentally active, you remain mentally fit.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
This isn't a measure of how IT increases productivity, it's a measure of how productive people operate. If someone is a productive person, they will get in touch with whomever is necessary to get the information or services they need. Non-productive people don't talk to others because they aren't trying to get anything done. I don't think the person's "connectedness" is provided by IT, in fact I'd argue that productive people will seek out any channel to get what they need to get done, IT or otherwise. IT may make productive people a bit more efficient, but it won't take a person who's afraid to contact others and empower them to do so.
stuff |
It does indicate that the workers involved were more connected and communicated far more. So it is possible that while the end project is completed in the same period of time, the increased communication leads to an end project of far superior quality or an end project that more closely meets the expectations of the originator(s) of the project. Both worthwhile goals in my view.
I wonder if this article could help me get a raise? Anyways, I'm glad this study has been done. I have worked at to many companies that look at IT as a necessary evil instead of the highly efficient tool that it can be. Bravo to the researchers!
WTF?
"Ginger, get me Purchasing. We need to order every employee a Segway to improve their productivity. Except for that clown, Pennywise. Have him brought to my office so I can fire him."
"Yes, sir."
"I'm going to get IT right this time."
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Multitasking is by no means an invention of the computer generation. Just watch any mother.
Hi All,
A couple of clarifications:
1) We measured multitasking by the number of simultaneous projects, not the number of simultaneous tasks (like being on the phone and searching the web at the same time). The measure could also be called 'workload' I guess. And, in fact, we found that this type of multitasking increased productivity up to an optimum point, after which, due the the difficulty of jugging many projects, it reduced productivity. This gels well with context switching drain on productivity that several people mentioned.
2) We found that people with greater IT use and higher IT skills (who also happened to be younger on average) completed projects faster holding their level of multitasking constant.
3) We also found those with diverse social networks (links into multiple pools of information) multitasked more and were more productive. Although it is admittedly difficult to tease apart whether those that multitask more and are more productive seek diverse social networks or whether diverse social networks drive greater productivity. (We actually go through this in the paper a bit).
4) In a subsequent study, we analyzed the *content* of email messages and found that in fact employees with more diverse social networks had access to more diverse information (as measured across the content of their email). We also found that this link - between network diversity and information diversity - explained productivity and performance differences: Wokers with access to diverse information through diverse social networks generated more revenue, completed more projects and completed projects faster, controlling for a host of traditional demographic and human capital variables such as age, gender, education, industry experience etc.
The paper can be found here:
Aral, Sinan and Van Alstyne, Marshall W., "Network Structure & Information Advantage: Structural Determinants of Access to Novel Information and Their Performance Implications" (January 18, 2007). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=958158
Best
Sinan Aral
NYU Stern School of Business & MIT Sloan School of Management
Hi All,
A couple of clarifications:
1. We measured multitasking as the number of simultaneous projects, not as the number of simultaneous tasks (like talking on the phone and surfing the web at the same time). This variable could also be called 'workload' or 'project multitasking' in a sense. Interestingly, we found that multitasking improved productivity up to a certain optimum point, beyond which it reduced productivity. This gels well with the context switching results that several people have mentioned. With more simultaneous tasks, people tend to switch contexts more often, and the additional work getting done is at some point outweighed by the drag on efficiency that results from trying to juggle too many projects.
2. We measured networks using email data and we found that the structure of your contact network (not just the size) was important. We found that employees with diverse network structures multitasked more, generated more revenue, and completed more projects per unit time. We speculate in this paper that these diverse networks are giving employees access to diverse pools of information that they use to solve problems and conduct their tasks more effectively.
In a subsequent study, we analyzed the *content* of the email messages and found that in fact employees with more diverse social networks did have access to more diverse information (as measured across the content of their email). We also found that this link - between network diversity and information diversity - explained productivity and performance differences: Wokers with access to diverse information through diverse social networks generated more revenue, completed more projects and completed projects faster, controlling for a host of traditional demographic and human capital variables such as age, gender, education, industry experience etc.
The paper can be found here:
Aral, Sinan and Van Alstyne, Marshall W., "Network Structure & Information Advantage: Structural Determinants of Access to Novel Information and Their Performance Implications" (January 18, 2007). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=958158
3. We found that more IT use and IT skills did in fact speed work holding the level of multitasking constant and that younger employees were more comfortable with IT on average and used IT more on average than older employees. (IT was defined as use of company DBs, Intranets, email etc).
4. Several people have mentioned the "quality" of work (rather than quantity). This is an important point and one we deal with explicitly in the paper. In the case of executive recruiting, filling a position for a client can be thought of as delivering a candidate that meets a minimum threshold of quality. So, filling more positions and filling them faster is a "quality controlled" measure of output in this context. That said, this measure of quality is noisy, so in our current work we are explicitly seeking better measures of quality (for example error rates).
5. Executive recruiting is only one industry. So, in order to study these phenomena more broadly, we are now expanding our research to study other information workers -- accountants, consultants, digital media producers, stock brokers etc. We also hope to study programmers. Although, a lot has already been published about what drives productivity in coding.
Best
Sinan Aral
NYU Stern School of Business & MIT Sloan School of Management