Productivity 2.0 sounds a lot like the old ‘work smarter’ idea with its proposals to do less but do it better. The problem is convincing people (employers, managers, consumers) that it will work in a world that values output over outcomes (our PM is a victim of this notion). People put quantity above quality when they assess value even when it comes to food. That’s one reason we have an ‘obesity crisis’, because quantity in food is cheap food loaded with carbos, fat and sugar. Poor people food, in fact, now eaten in prodigious quantities. Stuff like white bread, rice, pastas covered in fat-laden sauces.
A lot of this mentality is the outcome of industrialisation which was great because it promoted wealth for ordinary people but it has become a treadmill which focuses on acquiring huge amounts of (mostly disposable) stuff. We feel rich when we’re buying new stuff and we feel poor when we’re hanging onto old stuff we once loved. Which is kinda weird. This attitude has also weaved its way into the popular desire to cram as much into our brief lives as possible e.g. 100 places to see before you die. As if life was a competition. We feel more important, more successful when we’re busy. Look at all those blackberry addicts in the airport with you.
Anyway, I’m in favour of productivity 2.0, or any other ‘work smarter’ idea, but I just can’t see people getting over the ‘more is better’ idea anytime soon and employees, employers and managers all have to respond to consumers and how they perceive quality and value; and, right now, they want lot’s of stuff, they want it in a hurry and they want it cheap (although the current economic climate might cause some stalling). We won’t be able to ‘work smarter’ until we start ‘living smarter’.
