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Productivity Isn’t About How Much You Get done

Summary

The episode challenges the modern obsession with hyper-productivity, defined as constantly increasing output volume. The host argues that this focus on doing more and more is misguided, especially in fields like software development where lines of code or task count are poor measures of real value.

Instead, the host proposes a paradigm shift: true productivity and effectiveness come from minimizing output to achieve the same goal. This means critically examining a team’s or individual’s to-do list and removing as many items as possible, focusing only on the work that is absolutely necessary and delivers the highest value. The goal is to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of work, where ‘signal’ represents importance.

This refinement process leads to a focus on the most valuable tasks. Interestingly, as this practice continues, items once deemed important often reveal themselves as less critical and naturally fall away. The host emphasizes that this approach benefits both individual developers and engineering managers tasked with increasing team output.

The conclusion is that increasing productivity is not about squeezing more energy or longer work hours from a team. It is fundamentally about the disciplined removal of the unnecessary. This mindset shift leads to greater perceived and actual productivity by ensuring effort is concentrated where it matters most.

Topic Timeline

  • 00:00:00 — Introduction to the hyper-productivity mindset shift — The host introduces the episode’s theme by describing the last 30 years’ cultural shift towards desiring hyper-productivity. This mindset is characterized by a relentless pursuit of doing more with less, optimizing schedules and tools to become an ‘output machine.’ The host states the goal is to propose a different, more effective way to think about productivity.
  • 00:02:16 — The problem with measuring output by volume — The host critiques the common managerial mandate to increase team output, often measured grossly by volume (e.g., lines of code). He argues that major productivity gains come from market shifts and tools that benefit everyone, not from individuals drastically outpacing others in sheer activity. Believing volume is the most important measure is identified as a fundamental error.
  • 00:04:15 — Proposing a new definition: minimizing output — The host presents the core alternative: instead of maximizing output, think about minimizing the output needed to reach a goal. Teams should attack their work by asking, ‘What is the least amount of work necessary?’ True effectiveness is about what you do, not how much you do. The advice is to mark items off a to-do list by deciding not to do them.
  • 00:05:44 — Refining for high signal-to-noise and perceived productivity — The host explains that focusing on the highest importance items creates a high signal-to-noise ratio, where signal is value. As teams continually refine what’s most valuable, less important tasks naturally fall away. This process makes productivity ‘seem to soar’ even with the same output volume, because the output is all high-value. The episode concludes by reiterating that productivity is about removing the unnecessary, not optimizing for longest work sessions.

Episode Info

  • Podcast: Developer Tea
  • Author: Jonathan Cutrell
  • Category: Technology Business Careers Society & Culture
  • Published: 2020-01-13T10:00:00Z
  • Duration: 00:07:01

References

Podcast Info

Transcript

[00:00:00] One of the major shifts that the world has seen over the last 30 or so years is a shift

[00:00:11] towards desiring hyper-productivity.

[00:00:16] The idea that we can do more and continue to learn to do more with less has kind of

[00:00:27] taken over our way of thinking about work, trying to find the most productive schedule,

[00:00:37] the most productive tool, and seeking relentlessly the growing output machine, the ability to

[00:00:48] produce more and more and more volume.

[00:00:52] In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about a different way to think about productivity,

[00:00:56] and hopefully shift your mindset to a more effective solution.

[00:01:02] My name is Jonathan Cutrelli, and you’re listening to Developer Tea.

[00:01:05] My goal on the show is to help driven developers like you find clarity, perspective, and purpose

[00:01:10] in their careers.

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[00:02:16] Okay, so I want to talk about this idea of the endless slope, this upwards hill of productivity,

[00:02:23] wanting to do more and more.

[00:02:26] Increasing the output of a team.

[00:02:28] This is the mandate that so many engineering managers are given, to increase the output

[00:02:35] of the team.

[00:02:37] And interestingly enough, humans have been able to increase their output.

[00:02:41] We have tools that help us be more productive with our time.

[00:02:45] But I want to encourage you to take a step back and look at how those increases in productivity

[00:02:51] actually happen.

[00:02:54] Those kind of climbing the hill.

[00:02:55] The hill output increases.

[00:02:58] As a general rule, those are increases that everyone benefits from kind of at the same

[00:03:05] time.

[00:03:06] They’re increases that are not behaviorally specific.

[00:03:11] They’re instead brought to us by some shift in the market.

[00:03:15] And for the most part, the productivity of an individual is not going to drastically

[00:03:21] outpace the productivity of another individual.

[00:03:24] Now notice that I didn’t.

[00:03:25] Say that the effectiveness of one individual will not greatly outpace the effectiveness

[00:03:34] of another individual productivity in this scenario, in this kind of definition, it’s

[00:03:40] talking about the sheer volume of activity that can be completed.

[00:03:46] The number of lines of code, for example, this is a gross measurement of output.

[00:03:55] And very often we wrongly believe that the gross measure of output is the most important measure.

[00:04:03] This is quite simply wrong.

[00:04:05] And we need to be thinking differently as managers and as developers.

[00:04:12] So what should we be thinking about instead?

[00:04:15] I want to instead encourage you to think about minimizing the output, minimizing the output

[00:04:23] to get to the same place.

[00:04:26] So you set out a goal as a team.

[00:04:30] Let’s say you have a series of tasks, a list of user stories, however you manage the work

[00:04:37] that it is that you have to do.

[00:04:39] And I want you to attack that work, to think about that work and process it through the

[00:04:45] lens of what is the least amount of work necessary to get to that place.

[00:04:53] Productivity and effectiveness.

[00:04:55] Is not about how much you do as much as it is about quite simply what you do this week.

[00:05:05] I encourage you to mark as many things as you can off of your to-do list by simply removing

[00:05:13] them, deciding not to do them, and instead refining that list to the things that absolutely

[00:05:21] should be done.

[00:05:23] The highest importance items.

[00:05:25] If you do this as a team, you’ll be focusing on the most important, most valuable things.

[00:05:34] Productivity, at least from your perception, will seem to soar, even though you’re getting

[00:05:41] the same number of things done.

[00:05:44] You have the same output volume.

[00:05:47] That output volume should have a high signal to noise ratio where the signal is level of

[00:05:54] importance or value.

[00:05:56] And what you’ll find as you continue to do this refinement process is things that you

[00:06:02] even originally thought were important, they seem to become less important.

[00:06:07] The more you refine the most valuable way to spend your time as a team or as an individual,

[00:06:14] you’ll find that the less important things tend to kind of fall away on their own.

[00:06:21] This is the picture of increasing productivity on a team.

[00:06:25] It’s not about squeezing out every single ounce of energy that you can.

[00:06:31] It’s not about optimizing your day for the longest work sessions that you can manage

[00:06:36] to live through.

[00:06:37] Instead, it’s about removing the unnecessary.

[00:06:43] Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode of Developer Tea.

[00:06:46] Today’s episode was produced by Sarah Jackson.

[00:06:50] My name is Jonathan Cottrell.

[00:06:51] And until next time, enjoy your tea.

[00:06:55] I’m Jonathan Cottrell, and I’ll see you next time on Developer Tea.

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