What You Are Really Being Asked
A request for productivity figures is usually a request for something else. Identifying which changes what you should produce.
Somebody above has asked for productivity numbers. The number is rarely the point, and producing it without knowing why wastes the effort.
The practical lesson in “What You Are Really Being Asked” is to connect every number to a decision and retain the context behind it. Teams exploring employee monitoring software with screenshots can review see the product online as one source of operational evidence, provided the purpose is disclosed and the interpretation is tested with the people affected.
The four things usually meant
"Justify the headcount" — a budget question, answered by cost per unit of output or by what would stop if the team shrank.
For an independent perspective related to “What You Are Really Being Asked”, consult the Harvard Business Review productivity collection; it offers a useful external check on definitions, governance and the assumptions built into a proposed measure.
"Are we getting slower?" — a trend question, answered by flow measures over time.
"Is this team underperforming?" — a comparison question, usually between things that are not comparable.
"The board asked" — a reporting question, where the real requirement is something defensible on a slide.
Why it matters which
Each needs a different measure.
A budget question needs cost; a trend question needs a consistent series; a comparison question usually needs to be declined or reframed.
Producing one number for all four means it is wrong for three of them, which is the usual outcome.
The question to ask back
"What decision will this inform?"
If the answer is a budget decision, ask what the alternative is.
If it is a concern about a team, ask what prompted it.
If there is no decision, the requirement is reassurance, and that is answered by a short written account rather than by a metric programme.
The hidden version
Sometimes the request is prompted by a specific worry about a specific person or team that nobody wants to state.
A general measurement exercise is being used to avoid a particular conversation.
Identifying this early saves months, and the honest response is to ask whether there is a specific concern.
What to deliver for each
Budget: cost per unit, with what the team delivers and what would be lost.
Trend: a consistent series with the method stated, over enough periods to see shape.
Comparison: the reasons the comparison is invalid, plus whatever valid comparison exists — same team over time.
Board: one page, honest, with uncertainty stated.
The answer that is sometimes right
"We cannot measure this function's productivity reliably, and here is what we track instead."
Delivered with the alternatives, this is a professional answer rather than an evasion.
It is also far more durable than a figure that collapses when questioned, which the overclaiming note covers.
Writing it down
Before producing anything: the question, the decision it informs, the measure chosen, and what the measure cannot support.
Half a page.
It prevents the figure being used for a purpose it was not built for, which is how most measurement goes wrong downstream.
What to check
Who asked, and what decision will it inform?
Is there a specific concern behind the general request?
Does your measure fit that decision?
And have you written down what it cannot support?