Productivity is easy to measure in industries that make stuff. How many cars off the line? How much wheat? How many I-beams?
Productivity measurement in knowledge work is slippery.
We try. Is it hours worked? Is it emails sent? Story points? Tickets resolved? Tax forms submitted?
What if we stopped asking, “how many?” and started asking, “what value?” or, “what problem was solved?”
Busy is easy. Valuable is harder. Solutions are harder.
But that’s the work. Once you see it, you’ll never worry about losing your job to AI.
