How the Fifties-Era Factory Still Haunts Productivity

Lucas and Luna explore the surprising persistence of mid-century manufacturing logic in today's knowledge economy. Drawing on a 1956 General Electric time-and-motion study that set 'standard output' at 92 widgets per hour, they trace how that benchmark mentality still shapes everything from developer sprint points to call-center handle times — and why it systematically undervalues complex cognitive work. The episode digs into a 2023 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research that found knowledge workers spend 38% of their day on tasks that could be automated or eliminated, but the remaining 62% — creative problem-solving, strategic thinking, collaboration — is where value actually compounds. Lucas and Luna debate whether the 'productivity revolution' in services requires abandoning the industrial measurement framework entirely, or just updating it. A rare economics episode that names the ghost in the machine. #ProductivityPodcast #Economics #KnowledgeEconomy #TimeAndMotionStudies #GeneralElectric #NBER #IndustrialProductivity #KnowledgeWorkers #Automation #CreativeWork #OutputMetrics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #ProductivityMetrics #CognitiveWork #EconomicHistory #ServiceSector #LaborEconomics Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo