Assessing the effect of computer augmentation on staff productivity

Computers are being used increasingly to augment the information processing abilities of staff. Yet evidence of resulting increases in staff productivity has been lacking. An operational trial of computer augmentation by a National Science Foundation program office provided an assessment opportunity. For repeated work samples, participating staff members estimated the times they spent at various activities, the times they would have had to spend to produce equivalent output without augmentation, and the times they would not have spent had augmentation not been provided. On the basis of the resulting data it could be concluded that if augmentation had not been provided during the assessment periods approximately 19% of the program officers' output and 25% of the secretary's output would have been lost. Augmentation had resulted in productivity increases of 22% for the program officers and 33% for the secretary. Generalization of these results is limited by the work sampling and measurement procedures of the study. An experimental design by which the limitations can be overcome is suggested.