We often evaluate success of by how "productive" we feel. Normally this means we've "got a lot of shit done". Item's ticket off the todo. ** FINISH OFF**

I remember speaking to an engineer in one of my teams a few years back who had been at the company for 6 months. Let's call him Jim. Jim was getting glowing reports from his colleagues and manager about how fast he was at churning through tasks. We were discussing his frustrations with being pulled off a project to help fix a production issue. Jim felt that these distractions affected his productivity.

Unfortunately, the product (while expertly built) failed to attract users and ultimately failed. Meanwhile, Jim's input in the production issue was being lauded.

*********** Diagram here

With the benefit of hind sight, Jim was at his most productive when he felt like he was at his least.

Productivity vs... Something?

Productivity, as defined by "how much stuff someone feels like they got done" is a bad metric.

What's a better metric? The words "impact" and "outcomes" are used.

Personally my favourite is "value-add".

I was so productive today I added so much value today.

I think this