Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
I finished The One Best Way yesterday evening. I…
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2001 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
I finished The One Best Way yesterday evening. I enjoyed it, although Kanigel rather maddeningly draws no concrete conclusions about the benefits and disadvantages of Taylorism today. At least he presents much evidence and argument for several sides.
One reason I chose to read a biography of Taylor: for years and years I have tried to figure out why I worry about wasting little tiny bits of time. These days, I try to indulge myself in the decadence of leisure, taking scenic routes and enjoying the hot massage of the shower, but even so, efficiency hovers over me, the false god of my world.
Steve and I agree that there's a difference between "really inefficient" and "waste." An important distinction.
