🚀 go-pugleaf

>From WorkS-REQUEST@MIT-AI Wed Jul 29 17:30:57 1981
WorkS collected responses on performance monitoring

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 27 Jul 1981 0922-PDT
From: Tom Wadlow <TAW at SU-AI>
Subject: Keystroke monitoring.   

It seems to me that for most keyboard related jobs (Document
entry being a notable exception) keystrokes per hour (or your
favorite sampling period) are a very poor metric for produc-
tivity.  For example, when I find myself using a computer system
that permits it, I create a personal environment on that machine
to aid in doing the task at hand, as well as helping things in
general.  This usually involves automating everyday processes
(Compile this and if there were no errors, ship it over there,
link and start it) that eat up LOTS of keystrokes were I to do
them manually.  Thus, my keystroke count goes up at first, then
drops fairly sharply as my environment becomes available.  After
some period, I might be evaluated on keystrokes alone as being
unproductive, when in fact I might be turning out more than the
guy who is taking five hour lunches. 

Clearly a metric of some sort is needed to measure productivity,
but a *simple* metric should be suspected of not presenting a
picture of the real world.

------------------------------

Date:  27 July 1981 22:08 edt
From:  SSteinberg.SoftArts at MIT-Multics
Subject: Re: The office of the future is the factory of the past

In the book "In the Name of Efficiency" it appears that
organizing DP workers into neat job categories resulted in
a twofold increase in programming costs in terms of lines
of code per constant 1965 dollar!  Basically management (*)
feels that the illusion of control is more important than
productivity.

Everyone must remember what the managementification of the
military did in Vietnam.  It broke down morale in the rank
and file and turned the entire "noble enterprise" (^) into
a body count battlefield.

(*) There are exceptions.
(^) Ronald Reagan's term.

------------------------------

Date: 27 Jul 1981 08:23 PDT
From: Pugh.ES at PARC-MAXC
Subject: Re: The office of the future is the factory of the past

wm at unc --

Nothing really seems to substitute for motivation does it?

/Eric

------------------------------

End of WorkS collected responses on performance monitoring
**********************************************************