What is productivity? Why is it important? What is the benefit of ever increasing productivity? Is there a natural limit to productivity gains? Modern economies are built around a platform of unending productivity. Much has been written and continues to be written about productivity. The basic assumption of our society (and by society I mean the world) is that ever increasing productivity is unquestionably good.
A basic definition of productivity as given in Wikipedia is total output per one unit of total input. This definition also helps to give an answer to the question of why productivity is important. The more we can produce per given amount of input, the more productive we are and so our production processes are more efficient. This also helps to address a benefit of ever increasing productivity. Greater efficiency in production processes helps to reduce waste and should provide superior quality and service.
Viewed from this lens, productivity per-se is good and greater productivity is even better. Hence it makes sense to try and constantly increase productivity. This is an economic argument that is accepted almost without question. This same argument also easily flows into the private sphere. Thus apart from taking about work productivity, there is constant discussion about improving personal productivity. An entire industry has grown up on how to improve personal productivity. Books, blogs, talks, seminars, there is a huge amount of information and advice available . Anyone wanting to explore this area is quickly overwhelmed. The key assumption behind all this is that only economic activities are worthwhile.
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