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How IT Increases Productivity

Posted by kdawson on from the many-balls-in-the-air dept.

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.

11 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Funny article to post on slashdot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... given that browsing slashdot is most likely a sign of lacking productivity.

    1. Re:Funny article to post on slashdot... by Rasta_the_far_Ian · · Score: 4, Funny

      Actually, having the free time to browse Slashdot is the result of being so productive! :)

  2. New Generation of Multitaskers by garcia · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:New Generation of Multitaskers by Ucklak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Some of us that are 40 and under (and I imagine 45 and under) grew up building this tech and are very effective multitaskers to level of competence that this 25 and under (Generation nexters) aren't able to comprehend.

      I can rewire a home for phone service. I imagine that most ./ers can too. I understood how the telephone worked at around 10 years old and was hacking calls with just a speaker and 2 wires ripped from a taple player to call my friends when I had no phone in my room, only a jack. There was a time when I memorized all the Bell codes (in my area) for redial, dictate phone number, delay dial, etc... all before this caller ID crap.

      My nephew is 17. I had him accompany me to rewire my mother's condo for 2 lines of phone service. The telco only wired one jack and put a splitter on it.
      I was rather shocked when he stood in amazement watching me remove the plate from the wall and rewire the wires. Up to that point, the phone is simplay just a magic box that communicates to another magic box (phone) to him.
      Something so simple that you can pulse dial with a speaker and 2 wires and get a connection for simple communication was such a mystery to him that I had to rethink what todays youth is into. He can turn on a cell phone, IM, use all the features but if you ask him how many volts his cell phone battery supplies, he's quite lost.

      These Generation Nexters will be able to multitask with the tech presented to them but how many will know how to fix the tech?

      --
      if you steal from one source, that is plagiarism, if you steal from many, well, that's just research.
    2. Re:New Generation of Multitaskers by pnuema · · Score: 4, Insightful
      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.

      I have to echo one of my fellow responders...you don't multi-task better because you grew up around computers, you multi-task better because you are young. I graduated high school in 91, and so my early computer/tv/phone/gf sessions 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 - a task which happens to require lots of task switching. It is a very strange sensation to feel yourself...get dumber.

      I don't see myself as less capable now than I was then, larger because experience more than makes up for the lost skill. However, I'm not nearly as capable of switching between disparate tasks as I was back then. Perhaps it is not worth studying yet - the first internet generation is in their 20's. In ten years, we may know a whole lot more.

    3. Re:New Generation of Multitaskers by dr_d_19 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      These Generation Nexters will be able to multitask with the tech presented to them but how many will know how to fix the tech?.

      I was born in 1982.

      My grandfather knew how build a house (he built his own, my family's summer house, etc). I don't. Will that be a problem for me? No.

      Society is moving forward the same way software development is. Thirty years ago I would probably need a decent understanding of the way a microprocessor works internally in order to complete the most mundane computing task. Today I've got languages and frameworks which abstracts the basic (boring?) stuff so I can focus on business logic.

      In society today, constructing a house involves so much (building laws, energy saving, technology) that would make difficult and unneccessary (if not impossible) for me to learn just to have a house built.

      Leave it to the experts.

  3. New Generation of Articles. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "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

  4. It's the people, stupid by mnmlst · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.
    1. Re:It's the people, stupid by ResidntGeek · · Score: 5, Funny

      You remind me of almost every villain the BOFH has ever conquered.

      --
      ResidntGeek
    2. Re:It's the people, stupid by greg_barton · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      Excellent! Maybe you can get transferred away and your boss can actually get some work done.
  5. Whoa there, buddy by melted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.