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> Consider instead a system that externalizes work. Following the lead of software developers, we might use virtual task boards, where every task is represented

> Consider instead a system that externalizes work. Following the lead of software developers, we might use virtual task boards, where every task is represented by a card that specifies who is doing the work, and is pinned under a column indicating its status. I read this whole thing just to find out it's an ad for Jira? I still do things in a GTD-like way despite Jira because every epic/story/issue/task/subtask is always horribly underspecified when it's not written by another dev and I still need to keep track of that work. Often there's some overlap of the work, but I dare not show those cards. The best I can do is give a story point estimate and say if it can be finished by this sprint. If not for some kind of personal productivity methodology where does that aspect of work go? Jira boards can lead to micromanagement in the wrong hands because the broader organization lacks the specificity and rigor of the devs. They simply don't understand the work they're describing well enough. Nothing has changed in at least the last 30 years from the perspective of the knowledge worker. What will really change things is to stop promoting non-technical people into leadership roles when technical work is the core competency.

seadan83 3y ago
In sum, the article notes that in the industrial age all efficiency was essentially structural efficiency. In the information space that has become personal efficiency. The article suggests (via the example of Merlin Mann) that personal efficiency is potentially a losing battle, and suggests we should (in part) seek to offload some of this efficiency burden to be structural efficiency. Hence, my take-away, the article discusses the tension of productivity as it comes from the organization and as it comes from the individual. Historically production line efficiency was gained by the organization optimizing how individuals perform. That has evolved to a technology and information space where it is _only_ the individual that can optimize their productivity. The article essentially ponders the culture that this individual productivity pr0n has created. The mentions about Jira/Sprint style organization seemingly are thoughts & suggestions for how efficiency can in part be driven by the organization so that there is structural efficiency and not only individual efficiency. There are a few examples as well of how personal efficiency can drive organization wide inefficiency (eg: blasting out an email with a question and demanding an immediate answer, efficient for one, and not efficient for the other). One of the last sentences in the article summarizes this: >> We must, in other words, acknowledge the futility of trying to tame our frenzied work lives all on our own, and instead ask, collectively, whether there’s a better way to get things done.
- baxtr 3y ago
  So is there a better way?

seadan83 3y ago

In sum, the article notes that in the industrial age all efficiency was essentially structural efficiency. In the information space that has become personal efficiency. The article suggests (via the example of Merlin Mann) that personal efficiency is potentially a losing battle, and suggests we should (in part) seek to offload some of this efficiency burden to be structural efficiency. Hence, my take-away, the article discusses the tension of productivity as it comes from the organization and as it comes from the individual. Historically production line efficiency was gained by the organization optimizing how individuals perform. That has evolved to a technology and information space where it is _only_ the individual that can optimize their productivity. The article essentially ponders the culture that this individual productivity pr0n has created. The mentions about Jira/Sprint style organization seemingly are thoughts & suggestions for how efficiency can in part be driven by the organization so that there is structural efficiency and not only individual efficiency. There are a few examples as well of how personal efficiency can drive organization wide inefficiency (eg: blasting out an email with a question and demanding an immediate answer, efficient for one, and not efficient for the other). One of the last sentences in the article summarizes this: >> We must, in other words, acknowledge the futility of trying to tame our frenzied work lives all on our own, and instead ask, collectively, whether there’s a better way to get things done.

baxtr 3y ago
So is there a better way?