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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.
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.
"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.
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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.
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