Preparation for Productivity

Productivity resulting from the use of the computer must be viewed, really, from a system perspective. Within this view, think of the amount (and cost) of preparation needed to use high-speed devices such as the jet airplane and of course, the computer. As an analogy, think for a moment about an Olympic race. The participant normally spends most of his or her time preparing for the race. It may be over in only 10 seconds (100-meter dash) yet preparation time can be lengthy, perhaps years. Think about the amount of preparation that it takes to fly a commercial jet. Inside the airline company there is a tremendous amount of time-consuming, costly preparation including maintenance of airplanes, scheduling of pilots and planes, analysis of weather patterns to produce a fuel-efficient route, and the like—all for one very quick trip (the 600-mile dash!).

Preparation is also important within computer systems. The preparation to make a fast, efficient run on the computer may take several weeks of, for example, preparing mathematical models of machine behavior to aid in the understanding of a proposed engineering design. Typing a paper speedily on the word processor may be (should be?) preceded by long hours of research and organization of ideas. Even Web browsing needs prior thought and preparation to avoid aimless, non-productive searching. Presentations, using the graphical power of the computer, necessitate large amounts of preparation time for the eventual impressive 30-minute dash!

In the end, if we just focus on the power and speed of the computer per se but do not attend to creating efficiencies in the system within which it operates our chances for productivity increases are impaired. At any rate, when computers are used one must account for the entire process from preparation to execution on the computer. This whole process is costly. What we save in computation time (for engineering design, inventory control, or manipulating graphical images, etc.) cannot be lost in the time and effort needed to prepare for that computer use. Here again, in a culturally appropriate way we need to be good, productive stewards (managers) of human and machine resources.