Diminishing Returns to Productivity

A while back, I published an essay about “Slack – the workplace social network.” In it, I write about how Slack is not really a productivity tool, but rather a “third space” for people at work to escape “the hard problems at work.” I do admit, though, that this company is massively successful, I just think their pitch that “this is where real work happens” lacks accuracy.

I think that Slack can be useful but most people over-depend on it throughout the day. This is true of many software platforms…there are diminishing returns to the value of using a product.

This image sums up my thesis:

The same applies to Twitter, Facebook, and every other platform out there.