Does making something easier sometimes make us do more of it?

What we've noticed

Making a task quicker should save time.

But it doesn't always seem to work that way.

Sometimes, once something becomes easier, we start doing more of it.

A report takes five minutes instead of an hour, so we produce more reports.

Writing something becomes much quicker, so we write more things.

The task became easier.

But did we actually save anything?

What we're trying to work out

When does making something easier genuinely give us time back?

And when does it simply lead to more of the activity?

There might be a useful idea here:

Before making something easier, decide what you want the saving to become.

But we're not ready to call that finished yet.

Help us work it out

Have you seen this happen?

We're particularly interested in ordinary examples.

What became easier?

What did you expect to happen?

What actually happened?

Did you save time or money, or did you simply do more?

Examples where this didn't happen are just as useful.

Send your example →