From Quality Revolutions to Design Thinking: Where Did All the Productivity Go?

Back when I was researching for my book, ‘Design the Future’, that simplifies design thinking for businesses and curious individuals, I noticed something striking. The popular 5-step Stanford design thinking model closely mirrors DMAIC, a much older and effective quality improvement tool. (My book simplifies the Stanford process, btw).

Having studied some quality improvement, I started to wonder:  

How did we go from the productivity peaks of the quality revolution (think Japan in the 1950s, then Europe and America in the 1970s, and companies boasting of Six Sigma!) to today’s world, where productivity often feels like the exception, not the rule?

Back then, it would have seemed only logical to expect a future filled with hyper-productive humans. People who are always punctual, efficient at work, and masters of work-life balance.

The Reality Check

Fast forward to today:

∘ Obesity rates are climbing in many countries,
∘ Mobile games flood app stores,
∘ Employees often run on autopilot during the week, desperately seeking meaning (or just a break) on weekends.
∘ Productivity tends to be more of a surprise than a standard.

Why the Shift?

One explanation I kept circling back to, was that perhaps all those decades of relentless productivity were about building systems and machines, robots, computers, and more, that could take over the grind. So we could return to our naturally erratic rhythms: bursts of productivity followed by quieter days. Which is certainly not a bad thing.

Recently, I got another perspective from, ‘The Social Animal’. The author suggests that ‘our view of human nature is shaped by the dominant technology of the era. Of how, in the mechanical and industrial ages, it was easy to see people as mechanisms and the science of human understanding as similar to engineering or physics.’

Today, with technology evolving rapidly, perhaps our self-image is shifting too.

Food for Thought

We adapt to our times, for better or worse. Sometimes, that adaptation comes with economic turbulence and social upheaval. But maybe embracing our unpredictability is part of moving forward.

Have you ever wondered about these shifts? Do you see any other reasons for how our relationship with productivity and technology has evolved?

#designthinking #qualityimprovement #evolution #productivitytrends