Productivity 5: What do we mean by "Productive"?

This is the fifth in the Productivity Series by Sarah Fraser. If you want to sign up to receive updates in your email inbox or your Reader (your choice) then go to the Blog and click on the Subscribe button.

So what do we mean when we say we want to be productive or we want our services to be productive? This is something we think we know but until we articulate exactly what we mean, the term is uncertain and ambiguous. What one person understands as productivity may not be the same meaning that another has.

The online dictionary provides a number of definitions and I liked the way it provides similar, related and dissimilar words.

ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Adj.	1.	productive - producing or capable of producing (especially abundantly); "productive farmland"; "his productive years"; "a productive collaboration" creative, originative - having the ability or power to create; "a creative imagination" fertile - capable of reproducing fruitful - productive or conducive to producing in abundance; "be fruitful and multiply" profitable - yielding material gain or profit; "profitable speculation on the stock market" successful - having succeeded or being marked by a favorable outcome; "a successful architect"; "a successful business venture" unproductive - not producing or capable of producing; "elimination of high-cost or unproductive industries"
	2.	productive - having the ability to produce or originate; "generative power"; "generative forces" generative
	3.	productive - yielding positive results successful - having succeeded or being marked by a favorable outcome; "a successful architect"; "a successful business venture"
	4.	productive - marked by great fruitfulness; "fertile farmland"; "a fat land"; "a productive vineyard"; "rich soil" fertile, rich, fat fruitful - productive or conducive to producing in abundance; "be fruitful and multiply"

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2008 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

Using the above I came up with a number of questions to ask myself and others who claim to be working on increasing productivity:

1. If being productive can be defined as the capability to reproduce I wonder what productive spread is? I think it is about how efficiently we adopt and implement best practises, but that may not be the all of it.
2. If being productive is about abundance, how can we shift our mindset to one where we aim to use and create abundance rather than to streamline, cut and destroy services? How much impact can a mindset shift make?
3. If being productive is about yielding positive results, I wonder for whom these results are? How do we manage the differing expectations of different stakeholders?

How do you define "productive"?