At my previous employer I was part of the most productive department in the entire company. A new CIO was hired and the crazy policies he put in place drove half of my team, including myself, to quit. During my exit interview I got a chance to have a candid chat with him. Here's a snippet:
CIO: So why are you leaving?
Me: Because we are -- were -- the most productive team by far and you are doing your best to run it into the ground.
CIO: The most productive team? Please. The IT department ran reports that showed your team spends the most time surfing the Internet.
Me: Obviously. That's an indication of the nature of our work: we spend three to four hours everyday in deep concentration and do lighter work the rest of the time, and that inevitably involves Internet usage. Look at the results we--
CIO: Wait, hold on... so what you're saying is that your team is at approximately %40 productivity?!?!
Me: No, we're at over 90% productivity because no one can "produce" our output for eight hours straight five days a week unless they are on Adderall!
---
Unfortunately I couldn't get it through his head that it's just not realistic to expect people to be productive every minute of every day. His mentality was straight up, "if you're clocked in you should be working," which may be realistic for assembly line workers, but what is commonly called "knowledge work" happens in spurts (when people are in the "zone") and that's OK.
CIO: So why are you leaving?
Me: Because we are -- were -- the most productive team by far and you are doing your best to run it into the ground.
CIO: The most productive team? Please. The IT department ran reports that showed your team spends the most time surfing the Internet.
Me: Obviously. That's an indication of the nature of our work: we spend three to four hours everyday in deep concentration and do lighter work the rest of the time, and that inevitably involves Internet usage. Look at the results we--
CIO: Wait, hold on... so what you're saying is that your team is at approximately %40 productivity?!?!
Me: No, we're at over 90% productivity because no one can "produce" our output for eight hours straight five days a week unless they are on Adderall!
---
Unfortunately I couldn't get it through his head that it's just not realistic to expect people to be productive every minute of every day. His mentality was straight up, "if you're clocked in you should be working," which may be realistic for assembly line workers, but what is commonly called "knowledge work" happens in spurts (when people are in the "zone") and that's OK.