A Bird is the Blueprint for Efficiency

I was reading about energy needed for flying and I came across this sentence "A Bird is the Blueprint for Efficiency" OK, maybe not the bird in this picture! But in general, birds have highest flying time/fuel ratio and when we compare it to airplanes; the comparison is hopeless. But with airplanes we go fast and we can produce the machines in mass scales with affordable cost.

Welcome to the story of productivity vs efficiency

Productivity is the quantity of work produced by a team, business or individual. 

Efficiency, on the other hand, refers to the resources used to produce that work. 

Our performance track in this argument is quite clear, specifically in the last few decades. We like things now and "a lot" even if we do not need all of them:

• Nearly 30 percent of all available agricultural land in the world is used for produced but uneaten food.
• Some experts estimate that more than 50 percent of landscape water use goes to waste
• The U.S. economy wastes 61 to 86 percent of the energy that flows through it
• Engine to wheel energy efficiency of a car is around 25%. However, this is just mechanical energy efficiency; what about all that time that we spent sitting in traffic, going to a store already closed, that time that we could call them instead, those times that we could have waited a bit longer and go together...
• It was not a long time ago when we liked our Incandescent bulbs with 5% efficiency. LED lamps are around 20% now. yay!
• There are many things that are very difficult to measure. Work efficiency? "New Research Says Workers Are Productive Only Two Days Each Week". So far 40%; but what about if we add all changes in strategy direction, duplication in work, and clarity in team objectives?

Do I dare to say (value provided / resource spent) for many of our activities are close to 1%? I do not think this is far from reality.

The second law of thermodynamics says that when energy changes or matter moves freely, entropy (disorder) increases and this is irreversible. So every time we do basically anything, this is going to be irreversible and the waste created by that process is going to stay with us forever.

The need to focus on efficiency it is not something new but due to environmental and social pressures, the rate of changes are expected to be much faster than ever.

The changes that we need to initiate are more significant than ever; these changes start from "I" and start from changing culture e.g. All individuals need to focus on the bigger picture (not only be a piece of puzzle), we need to question the "normal", we need to raise the next generation to care about efficient steps in life.

Of course cultural changes within our work environment as well: Why do we do things that we do? why not do it differently? Are we efficient? If we focus only on system-in/system-out what have we done? What progress we made? Question the status Que? Change our rigid hierarchical way of working?

I believe change starts with many people actively following similar mindset in order to make a difference. So next time you are trying to do something e.g. go for a meeting(!) ask yourself how efficient is this? And remember every move you make is irreversible.