Separating Productivity From Activity

By Michael Hernandez

Published: 15 December 2025

Introduction

In business there is a great emphasis on activity and maintaining the appearance of being busy.

Activity is a poor substitute for actual productivity.

Activity can be viewed as a measure of effort expended or tasks completed.

Productivity can be viewed as a measure of results achieved or value created.

The two are often conflated in an exercise to justify investment and cost, leaving out consideration for effectiveness and efficiency.

Employees can list out their tasks and projects to justify a raise they requested.

Service providers can list out their features and deliverables to justify their pricing.

The more useful measure is not found in lists of work completed, but in the value created as a result of the effort.

An employee may have spent months in creating educational assets that no team member will ever use.

A service provider may have spent a year in delivering canned content that no one will meaningfully engage with.

Without a focus on value creation, we run risk paying for the illusion of work instead of investing in effective work.

How can you invest your resources to avoid this problem?

The answer is to separate productivity from activity, and relentlessly pursue it across all facets of business.

Productivity As A Function Of Activity

When we separate productivity from activity, we are focusing on the value created from activity. We maintain the understanding that activity can lead to productivity.

In order to understand how the two are related, we need to introduce the concept of effectiveness.

Consider this simple formula:

Productivity = Activity * Effectiveness

Effectiveness acts as a multiplier that determines how much value is created from specific set of work. It expresses the ratio of effort in and value created out.

Effectiveness = Productivity / Activity

Different workers (employees, service providers, consultants, etc.) can have different levels of effectiveness.

Consider two employees that worked on similar projects for the same amount of time. If one produces 3 times the value as the other, we can infer that they are 3 times more effective (ceteris paribus). We are often quick to reward the more effective worker in these situations with raises and bonuses.

Using our formula we can quantify the effectiveness in this scenario:

Productivity = Activity * Effectiveness
$300 = 3 Hours * Effectiveness
Effectiveness = $300 / 3 Hours
Effectiveness = $100 / Hour

Productivity = Activity * Effectiveness
$900 = 3 Hours * Effectiveness
Effectiveness = $900 / 3 Hours
Effectiveness = $300 / Hour

Consider two employees that worked on similar projects that produced the same results. If one accomplished this in a third of the time as the other, we can again infer that they are 3 times more effective (ceteris paribus). In this situation, we often penalize the more effective resource with additional workload or assigning a dismissive label of "lazy."

In reality, these more effective workers should be rewarded in both cases and not selectively punished for their efficiency in achieving productivity.

Again using our formula we can quantify the effectiveness through efficiency in this scenario:

Productivity = Activity * Effectiveness
$900 = 9 Hours * Effectiveness
Effectiveness = $900 / 9 Hours
Effectiveness = $100 / Hour

Productivity = Activity * Effectiveness
$900 = 3 Hours * Effectiveness
Effectiveness = $900 / 3 Hours
Effectiveness = $300 / Hour

Workers that can generate great value with little effort are high-leverage and should be prioritized not penalized. They are highly efficient with their effort.

They should not be punished for their efficiency and effectiveness.

Conclusion

Separating productivity from activity has great utility.

We can stop playing to the illusion of work and instead focus on value generated, the productivity that results from the activity.

We can compare which workers are more productive. This can help us make hiring and purchasing decisions, and it can help you assign projects based on effectiveness.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine applying this type of framework to your digital marketing efforts; I know that this can be extremely helpful as it is what I do.

If you want to work with a high-leverage expert who focuses on achieving productivity through targeted and effective activity then contact me for a consultation and we can determine if we would be a good fit.

Sincerely,

-Michael

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