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We think about productivity in very restrictive terms. Here’s a deeper guide.
Different angles and approaches on what everyone supposedly is chasing: “maximum productivity.”
The “Big Issues” Series
Here’s a first, important question: Is productivity truly important to managers, or is it more about control?
I won’t belabor this point, because I think most rational people understand it without needing a Medium article to advance this particular ball down the field,but work is largely about control, or at the very least it’s about control, relevance, and status, and these are the core reasons executives and middle managers are flipping out about remote work and hybrid work. I wouldn’t say the power dynamic is totally shifted — most people need jobs because of health care (unfortunate), and also because of income (“this is the way things are, at least until blockchain pops off”), so the employer still has power. But what all is happening here is that managerial brains are getting fried, because the way they conceptualize work — and what they really need from work — has been totally threatened.
Here’s a very good newsletter on what’s currently happening, including this section:
