Many people think that raising productivity means doing more things ... but sometimes, it means doing fewer things more effectively. Some even think the more things they have to do, the more important they are.

Recently, US Vice President Joe Biden claimed that U.S. workers “are three times as productive as any worker in the world.” Of course he was currying favour but it does no good in the longer-term

The world population will rise to 9 billion by 2040 (from the current 7 billion). This has massive implications for all sorts of human activity and human well-being ... perhaps first and foremost being the

We all know that planning is essential ... it allows us to create structure and efficiency. We plan at various levels - from detailed production or marketing plans for our company to personal ToDo lists.

The UK looks to be doing a little better than most people thought. Rather than contracting - and leading the UK into a further recession - growth has been positive, based on improved service sector

Small businesses often use 'involuntary IT mangers' (IITMs) .... non-technical, untrained staff who, by accident or through organisational prompting, take on the role of managing IT operations.According to a recent small business survey commissioned by

'Bring Your Own Device' is the term given to the situation where companies allow staff to take in their own smartphone or tablet and have it connected to company networks and data sources. What does

New data on the workplace by Evolv, a startup that monitors hundreds of metrics from Fortune 500 companies, suggests that social media should not be considered the the bane of employee productivity. Rather, the more

Most developing countries are following the same development path - aping the West in terms of urbanisation, increased use of fossil fuels, technology and increased consumerism. This is understandable - after all the West has

I'm currently writing (or more accurately co-writing) a book on productivity improvement in the retail sector. It seems that retailers have broadly 'got it right' ... they work hard at productivity improvement ... but they

I've just spent some time in India. The educational system is india is large and varied - it includes state provision and much private provision. the system is 'good'if you measure it in terms of

The Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO) report reveals that not even one out of 49 countries of the Asia Pacific region can be considered ‘water secure’. South Asia and parts of Central and West Asia

I talked last week about employability skills. During the past week I have delivered a pilot program with Indian students developing employability skills using productivity as the 'engine' or focus. The students really enjoyed the

I  have been doing some work in India recently and have been talking to employers about the process of employing recent graduates and post-graduates. What came across loud and clear and often were comments that

I have just got back from Turkey where I attended an event - a 'Leadership Camp' - organised by students for students - mainly students of industrial engineering. They had assembled an impressive set of

I was reading something the other day which reminded me of the number of keyboard shortcuts available within some software packages.  If you take the time to learn these, they can shave seconds off simple tasks - improving your performance and productivity.  Yet each individual time

I don't know whether you know about the horsemeat scandal in the UK - where horsemeat has been found in a range of pre-produced 'beef' products but it  does remind us that each of us

Some productivity methodologies and techniques seem to be more used in specific sectors.  This suggests that either they are in some way particularly suited to the processes involved in that sector .... or perhaps just

Two old adages say "Measurement creates understanding" and "You get what you measure".    The first is self-explanatory - if you want to understand a situation, measure it, once you know how mant/much, when, at what rate

There are many blogs offering 'personal productivity' advice - often linked to reminder/time management software... but often just offering simple advice. A common piece of advice is to 'declutter' your life - get rid of distractions and focus on the

How would a productivity director of a global enterprise exhibit leadership? My first thoughts are that, like all effective leaders, they would define and articulate a clear mission, vision and set of values with commitment

For several decades after World War II, the graphs for productivity and wages mirrored eac other - productivity increases allowed workers to earn more money. Over the last decade this has changed. Whoever is reaping

When times are tough (as they are now), we tend to turn in all directions looking for some help So, will technology help us out of the current mess we are in? It is possible

China's productivity record over recent years has been excellent - yet most of the improvement has come from capital investment. As such it has been relatively low-hanging fruit. If growth is to be maintained, the