A Short History of the Word "Efficiency"

"Efficiency" is one of those words that ends arguments. Nobody is for waste. But the word has traveled a long way from where it started, and it picked up some baggage on the trip.

Engines first

In the 19th century, efficiency was a ratio: useful work out, divided by energy in. A steam engine was 5% efficient because 95% of the coal became heat that did nothing. This is a clean, physical idea. There is a right answer.

Then factories

Frederick Taylor took the engine metaphor and applied it to workers. Time each motion, remove the wasted ones, and the human becomes a more efficient machine. This is where the word gains its moral charge — and its blind spot. An engine does not care what "useful work" means. A person does.