gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu (10/07/89)
Re: Why hasn't office automation increased the productivity of knowledge workers? This is a stupid question. Why didn't the vacuum cleaner and washing machine save time for the 1930's housewife? It didn't save time, but it improved our quality of life. With the more powerful tools, the housewife was able to spend the same amount of time and accomplish much more. The resulting households were cleaner, and clothing was cleaned more frequently, resulting in an overall increase in hygeine with associated benefits (such as a reduction in disease). If someone says that office automation hasn't increased productivity, then I'd tend to think they were foolishly ignoring some hidden increases in productivity or quality of work.