Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1131IR // #c1131Synthesis

"…after about an hour and one-half of consecutive work they began to get nervous." "It is wise to stop short of the point at which overstrain begins, so we arranged for them to have a ten minutes period for recreation at the end of each hour and one quarter."

— In our words · Source: The Principles of Scientific Management (Frederick Winslow Taylor)

[Use when]

Detail work like reviewing, proofreading or inspection drifts in quality late in the day.

[Why it matters]

The breaks were scheduled just before observed fatigue set in, and the inspectors were required to get up and walk around. Taylor reports the same group earlier lost much of a long day to half-working.

Filed under situations:When you’re building the thing, not just planning it

More from The Principles of Scientific Management

#c1113"The greater part of the systematic soldiering, however, is done by the men with the deliberate object of keeping their employers ignorant…Your team's estimates never get shorter no matter how familiar the work becomes. #c1114"…after a workman has had the price per piece of the work he is doing lowered two or three times as a result of his having worked harder…You are tempted to raise a quota because someone beat it. #c1115"…since they were paid by the hour, the faster they went the less money they got, and finally telling him that if he went too fast the…You are setting up pay for work where you can't easily see the pace.

Same situation, different book

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