Many enterprises believe in these «fairy tales»: The more tasks per day, week or month are completed, the higher the productivity. They therefore try to fill their employees capacity as much as possible. As to every tale, there is some truth to this one too: This is most likely the case in productive enterprises, in which people produce standardised products.
Maximum capacity becomes a boomerang as soon as creative work predominates. In this case, the most crucial benchmark is effectiveness – the correct action: A journalist will create more value with a story that triggers many responses than with a story that is as long as possible. Or a developer is more effective with a functioning software than one with as many lines of code as possible.
Another example for smarter working is the reduction of complexity: The new Swatch Sistem51 is the first mechanical watch that consist of only 51 parts. Up to now there were at least twice as many.
Therefore we suggest to throw this fairy tale out the window together with the Christmas tree. You can reduce complexity and capacity in the new year and work smarter, not harder.
We appreciate your trust and excellent cooperation over the last 12 months. We wish you and your family a merry Christmas and a successful 2015 for your private and business matters.
