“For 40 years, the American middle class has been disappearing. Millions of people are working longer hours for lower wages despite a huge increase in technology and productivity. And what we have seen during that period is a massive transfer of trillions of dollars from the middle class to the top one-tenth of 1 percent of America” PeopleYearsHas BeensAmericaHoursClassMillionsTechnologyMiddleHugePeriodsPercentIncreaseDollarsDisappearProductivityDespiteMiddle ClassMassiveWagesTransfers Author:Lindsey Graham
“The American College of Sports Medicine found that the productivity of people after exercise was an average of 65 percent higher than those who did not exercise. If I have something that's really bothering me, so much that it almost hurts my head to try to sort it out, I always find the solution in a puddle of sweat! Intense exercise is like taking a magic pill that gives you the ability to solve problems like a superhero.” PeopleIfsGivingTryingProblemFoundSportsHurtAbilityMagicCollegeHigherExerciseSolutionsPercentMedicineAverageSolveProductivityIntenseBotherSweatSuperheroPillsPuddles Author:Chalene Johnson
“Converting a classic batch-and-queue production system to continuous flow with effective pull by the customer will double labor productivity all the way through the system (for direct, managerial, and technical workers, from raw materials to delivered product) while cutting production throughput times by 90 percent and reducing inventories in the system by 90 percent as well.” WayWellsCuttingMaterialsProductsPercentFlowLaborDirectWorkersProductionsCustomersProductivityClassicReducingRaw MaterialsConvertingInventoryQueues Author:James P. Womack
“It has been estimated that even in the absence of net investment, the mere substitution of modern machinery for worn-out equipment in the United States would cause an annual productivity increase of approximately 1.5 percent.” Has BeensStatesCausesUnitedUnited StatesModernPercentIncreaseMereInvestmentAbsenceProductivityWornEquipmentMachineryAnnualsWorn OutSubstitution Book:Political Econ of Growth Source: Political Econ of Growth
“What looks like multitasking is really switching back and forth between multiple tasks, which reduces productivity and increases mistakes by up to 50 percent.” LooksMistakePercentTasksIncreaseProductivityMultipleBack And ForthSwitchingMultitasking Book:Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking Source: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
“Well over half of the time you spend working on a project (on the order of 70 percent) is spent thinking, and no tool, no matter how advanced, can think for you. Consequently, even if a tool did everything except the thinking for you - if it wrote 100 percent of the code, wrote 100 percent of the documentation, did 100 percent of the testing, burned the CD-ROMs, put them in boxes, and mailed them to your customers - the best you could hope for would be a 30 percent improvement in productivity. In order to do better than that, you have to change the way you think.” IfsThinkingWayWellsMatterWould BeOrderHalfProjectsPercentToolsBoxesCustomersProductivityImprovementCodeBurnedTestingCdsDocumentation Author:Fred Brooks
“Most of the productivity gains appear to go to the top 1 percent. Most people don't have enough income and as a result, they borrow additional money by using their credit card and they fall into high debt. The result of the growing income gap is a slower growing GDP (too few people with money to spend) and a rising tide of indebtedness.” PeopleEnoughFallResultsGrowingPercentGainsCreditDebtProductivityIncomeCardsRisingGapsTidesCredit CardGdpIndebtedness Author:Philip Kotler