how productive could you be?

Being a mom, I have a whole new understanding of productivity. And a new method of prioritizing my schedule. I'm always looking for tools that allow me to accomplish more in less time.

I was intrigued to listen to a presentation by Erica Driver of Forrester Research this morning. She discussed the seven tenets of the information workplace. One of the statistics she presented was that approximately 40% of organizations are considering evaluating the roles of information workers to determine how their needs differ based on those roles.

I was a little surprised and disappointed by that statistic. With the rapid changes in technology that are changing how we work, it seems like this should be a higher priority for most organizations. The fact is, the integration of productivity enhancers in the work environment can accomplish multiple goals. More work gets done, in less time, expanding the opportunity for innovation. Communication between workers is accelerated, and can happen from just about anywhere - which has its own implications for reducing overhead through telecommuting, making (some) employees happier, reducing the environmental impact of commuting employees. And frankly, if I have the information I need to do my job, or at least what exists, it makes me a happy employee. And I wonder, if we were doing a better job of this, would we be better positioned to maximize our staff's talents?