On the Horizon: The New Productivity
The meaning of the word “productivity” has been undergoing changes lately. What does this mean for the legions of GTDers, technophiles, Moleskine neo-luddites, and everyone else associated with the productivity community? We are in for exciting, but uncertain times.
I had a revelation about the state of “productivity” while jogging around my block today. I am so excited about it that I couldn’t wait to share it, especially with James Mallinson, who seems to think about many of the same questions I have.
Some History: The Rise of Productivity
When I think of productivity, I think back to 2005ish to people, places, and things like: lifehacker.com, The Hipster PDA from Merlin Mann, David Allen’s GTD, and the Printable CEO series from David Seah.
I remember the LifeHacker About Page summarizing the spirit of the time by saying something to the effect of “there is a lot of technology, but not all technology makes our lives easier.” Computers and the internet had become mainstream and people were adjusting to incorporate the changes into their life.
At that time, when you looked for “productivity”, you found ways of dealing with the new tasks brought on by this “information revolution”: how do you keep your email inbox under control? how do you connect and keep in touch with contacts? how can you organize the massive amount of information at your fingertips?
The technology was new. It opened a world of opportunities to us, but it also created a lot of new tasks as we learned how to use it. There was a lot of uncertainty, so people gathered together to find great ways to comfortably harness this power.
I think part of the reason why the Printable CEO forms from David Seah and the Hipster PDA from Merlin Mann were so popular was more than just their usefulness: they blended both the old and the new together, giving people a sense of hope for harmony in this chaotic time. Maybe that hope is why I still hold onto these two tools.
Is Productivity Dead?
There has been rising concerns that “productivity is dead” and that people are moving on to new things. The conditions have changed that created the initial excitement around “productivity.” Most people are now comfortable with the internet, their computers, and the associated “knowledge work” that they no longer need ways to help them cope. In that sense, “productivity” is no longer needed.
The changes from the introduction of new communication technologies was highly visible, but the acceptance of the technology was much less pronounced. I think this change was felt by many, but not really consciously understood (which is why I am so excited to talk about it).
Since the change was so subtle, many felt frustration as they tried to figure out what was going on. You can really sense this with Merlin Mann as he laments his “productivity pr0n” that caused people to read, but not to do. He closed down comments on his blog, removed his theme for a few days, switched back, and now has a very minimalist theme.
Leo Babauta went through a similar phase when he decluttered his ads on ZenHabits and removed many of the elements from his blog (no more colors, no more official support for his forums, only one post on the front page). Leo seems to be fairing much better than Merlin, maybe because he has been blogging for less time or because his focus was on simplicity since the beginning.
What Lays Ahead: Defining
In the beginning we were overwhelmed by what was out there. The internet was a large sea of uncharted territories. We needed help finding the good stuff that helped us survive and were united under a single cause. Over the years, things have settled down and we have survived.
We are no longer struggling to find out what is out there, but we are now in a position to decide among the options what is for us. We are now defining productivity, as can already be seen with James Mallinson and Paul Gardner.
Productivity may be about simplifying your life, using the latest technology, finding balance, or even living an unconventional life.
The challenge is selecting what “productivity” means to you and not being distracted by what it means to others. It can be many things. We also have to let go of the past because the conditions have changed. Maybe it is the influence of Joseph Campbell, but now is the time for reinterpretation of the meaning of productivity.
Great read. The whole idea of productivity as fostered by GTD has certainly faded away, but then that to me was all about efficiency – doing things well, without any real focus on what exactly you were doing (it had stuff like the vertical map but the overall focus of GTD certainly isn’t in being selective about your work). It’s no surprise that simplicity, as fostered by sites like Zen Habits, has grown popular. It does the opposite – help you to identify the real value in your life, but without any real focus on how efficiently you then work on it.
Obviously the ideal situation is a balance between efficiency and effectiveness. For whatever reason most systems and books only tend to focus on one or the other though I think that’s slowly shifting to cope with the information age.
Of course, the issue is what to call this shift. I stick with productivity because it still sums up the whole efficient AND effective mentality better than anything else (certainly better than “simplicity” or even “creativity” as some people have taken to calling it). Unfortunately the word still has the old industrial era meaning attached to it. Maybe we can change that?
Thanks for mentioning the WorkLifeCreativity blog, we are definitely looking to create a place where people can share ideas and help each other find that balance.
I do not believe that productivity is dead, rather the emphasis is changing. As you mentioned, it is becoming much less about “cranking widgets” and more about lovingly hand-crafting these widgets to fill a particular need. And do it in an elegant and fulfilling way.
Thanks for sharing your positive outlook on this topic (and reach out to me, I’d love to have you run a guest-post on blog.WLC!)
I finally got around to reading this (it’s been sitting in my Instapaper for a while). I like your approach to the “Productivity is dead” idea, it’s better thought-out than mine.
Like you I wonder what’s next for “productivity,” and like James I wonder what to call it. I vote for “effectivity!” Just kidding. As one of the founders of work.life.creativity I’m inclined to lean toward the life-balance idea over the old industrial era meaning of “productivity.”
Good stuff. Thanks for sharing with us.
No problem. I’m really glad that you guys at WLC are supportive of my thoughts, because I really am excited about what you guys are doing.