Generativity > Productivity
The Overlap #7
Welcome to The Overlap, a biweekly newsletter that explores the relationship between product & organization design.
(Photo by Emilio Morenatti.)
I’ve been thinking a lot about the difference between productivity and generativity, and how this distinction is important to both product managers and org designers.
Productivity = your individual output
Generativity = your team’s increased success due to your impact
Your productivity can be high while your generativity is low. You’re producing a ton individually, but generating little impact for your team.
It’s also possible for your productivity to be low while your generativity is high. If you’re a basketball head, Draymond Green, Patrick Beverly, and Dennis Rodman are great examples of this. They don’t usually score much, but their team loses more often when they don’t play.
Productivity vs generativity is similar to outcomes vs outputs: the idea that a team’s impact matters more than busyness. However, generativity over productivity applies mostly to the individual, while outcomes over outputs applies across the individual, team, and organization.
You’re more effective if you’re generative
I’m huge on personal productivity. But personal productivity can get in the way of you being a good product manager/organization designer.
In personal productivity, it’s all about your output. How can I consistently produce my most important work?
But when you become an organization designer or product manager, “producing your most important work” is no longer a solo act. Working alone eight hours a day is not effective, even if you use those eight hours for deep work (solo focused working sessions). You’re much more effective when you help groups make progress even over focusing on your personal progress. You must be generative.
Focusing on generativity also applies to managers. While individual contributors are focused on productivity even over generativity, managers are focused on generativity even over productivity.
As someone who used to assume that focusing on your goals matters most, generativity over productivity was (and still is!) a huge reframe for me. It’s no longer about accomplishing my own goals. It’s about my team accomplishing our goals. I can achieve optimal productivity, but this doesn’t matter if my team isn’t benefitting from it. Prioritizing my success can get in the way of my team’s success.
Generative work is fuzzy work
One big reason organizations cling to productivity (instead of generativity) is that they give us certainty on what done looks like. And we as human beings want certainty—certainty alleviates our unease about the unknown.
Consider how different a designer and developer’s project is to a product manager’s project:
Designer project: Redesign checkout flow
Developer project: Implement new checkout flow
PM project: Increase checkout conversion by 20%
We know what done looks like for redesign checkout flow and implement new checkout flow. A new checkout flow redesigned and shipped means you’re done! Time to celebrate! But if that checkout flow doesn’t increase conversion by 20%, the PM’s work isn’t done. They now have to get to the root cause of why the checkout page isn’t converting, which is a strategic, fuzzy, and hard problem to solve. Just when the PM thought their work was done, they’re realizing their work is far from over.
Another reason organizations cling to productivity instead of generativity: productivity is equated to competence. Designers, developers, and product managers are often measured by how productive they are individually. The more pages you design, the higher your velocity, the more features you ship, the more competent you are at your job. We’re unwilling to understand that competence is your ability to help others be competent. We incentivize individual success over team success when it should be the other way around.
To counter the productivity forces that be, you must prioritize generativity over productivity. Team achievement over individual achievement.
I was raised to focus on my own goals. “Achiever” is my top CliftonStrength. I’m far from perfect at focusing on generativity instead of productivity. I think that’s why I love product management and why I love org design. Both disciplines teach me to unlearn this old achievement mindset and put my team first.
—
What I’m Reading
The Origins of Opera and the Future of Programming - Jessica Kerr
Jessica’s essay is the inspiration behind this edition of The Overlap. Not only does she introduce productivity vs generativity, but she also relates software development to the opera, the Renaissance Era, and symmathesy (a learning system made of learning parts).
Squad Wealth - Other Internet
Speaking of teams, this essay is on the wisdom of squads—or, groups of people. It also juxtaposes hilarious memes and insightful analysis, which you gotta appreciate.
Nucor’s Ken Iverson on Building a Different Kind of Company - Farnam Street
Nucor is a hidden gem: they’re a 7000-person steel company where each division is fully autonomous.
Each division operates its one or two plants as an independent enterprise. They procure their own raw materials; craft their own marketing strategies, find their own customers; set their own production quotas; hire, train, and manage their own work force; create and administer their own safety programs…In short, all the important decisions are made right there at the division. And the general manager of the division is accountable for those divisions.
I love case studies like these. They disprove the misconception that extreme decentralization only works for tech companies.