I came across the Rules of Productivity presentation on one of my favorite blogs about happiness in the workplace, The Chief Happiness Officer. In it are some interesting takeaways (often pulling from data, my favorite) on how to maximize the productivity of a team.
Rule 1: Working more than 40 hours leads to decreased productivity. You can get a short-term boost by working more hours, but the team will require a recovery period that counteracts the seeming short-term productivity boost.
Rule 2: Every crunch has a cost. This refers to the necessary recovery time. In addition, the recovery period can often outlast the period of increased productivity. Instead of having forced bursts of overtime, try giving flexible work hours like a 4-day week of 10-hour days.
Rule 3: Productivity of "knowledge workers" (vs. factory workers) declines after 35 hours (not 40 hours). When creative workers are forced to work longer hours and get less sleep, the quality of their output goes down dramatically.
Rule 4: Teams that work overtime think they are doing more but actually accomplish less. During crunch times, perceived productivity remains much higher than actual productivity. I found this note particularly interesting:
One of the more fascinating side effects is the perception of both teams with management. Since Team A has more ‘butts in seats’, they are often given more resources, promoted more and generally considered to be better workers. Unfortunately, due to the burden that overtime places on workers, this is not a self fullfilling prophecy. It is quite common that managers put all their eggs in the basket that ends up self destructing. The solution is better metrics so that managers can gain a more objective understanding of how projects are doing.
Rule 5: Teams of 4-8 people have higher productivity. As your team grows, it's best to plan how to split the team into these smaller groups that can then interact with each other as needed.
Rule 6: Seating the team together in a shared room increases productivity. This makes sense, since these are the people you communicate with the most. Having them in a separate room also helps in minimizing external distractions (but what if most of the distractions come from within your own team, I wonder?). Other important notes: give at least 50 sq ft per person and set up side rooms for private conversations.
Rule 7: Cross-functional teams also increase creativity and productivity. Having a team consisting of people with different perspectives also helps reduce groupthink and helps increase breakthrough solutions. Note that having members of these teams part time rather than full time results in a 15% drop in efficiency.
Rule 8: Schedule your team at 80% to allow space for creative thinking and side projects. Of course, always have a backlog of projects you can pull from as needed, but leaving time for side projects can increase happiness and increase creative problem solving for all projects.
Overall some interesting food for thought for bringing back to your own team.
