Jason Cohen wrote a blog post about efficiency titled Your Non-linear Problem of 90% Utilization.
« 90% utilization is causing more fail than you realize, not just in burn-out, but in productivity and output… »
« But you won’t even receive outsized professional gains as a reward. This condition is a combination of frequent context-switching and interruption — the Twin Enemies of productivity. Work-completion will drag out because it’s constantly interrupted. Some will be abandoned. »
« The ideal is probably a situation where most of the time you’re in the safe zone, with occasional surges into high gear for a short period of time and for a good cause. »
This post reminds me of a book called Slack. « Slack represents operational capacity sacrificed in the interests of long-term health… Learning to think of it that way (instead of as waste) is what distinguishes organizations that are ‘in business’ from those that are merely busy.»