How to… be more efficient

Time management – if only! Suddenly, Doctor Who would be more believable and Einstein's theories would need revision. Time (as we all know) is a curious and slippery concept, which defies explanation. So, let's forget about trying to manage it and concentrate on controlling activity instead. In particular, the more efficiently you do a task, the more quickly you'll complete it and the earlier you can go home – hmmmm… So, how do you measure your efficiency?

Named after US industrial engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor, Taylorism laid down the principles for gaining maximum efficiency from machines and workers in his 1911 book, Principles of Scientific Management. Applied to assembly line processes, these principles helped boost US factory output leading up to and during World War Two. Taylorism was further developed by US automobile pioneer, Henry Ford – hence Fordism. These ‘isms’ were based on time and motion studies, which were developed by the husband and wife team of Frank and Dr Lillian Gilbreth.