Measurement must determine what percentage of the task time is to be spent at work and what at rest, and must also determine whether the rest period should all follow the completed work, or should be divided into parts, these parts to follow certain cycles through the entire work period.

The method of constructing the task is discussed under two chapters that follow, Analysis and Synthesis, and Standardization.  Here we note only that the task is built up of elementary units measured by motion study, time study, and micro-motion study.

When this standard task has been determined the worker’s efficiency can be measured by his performance of, or by the amount that he exceeds, the task.

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE OBSERVER OR MEASURER.—­The position of observer, or as he has well been called, “trade revolutionizer,” should be filled by a man specially selected for the position on account of his special natural fitness and previous experience.  He also should be specially trained for his work.  As in all other classes of work, the original selection of the man is of vital importance.  The natural qualities of the successful hunter, fisherman, detective, reporter and woodsman for observation of minute details are extremely desirable.  It is only by having intimate knowledge of such experiences as Agassiz had with his pupils, or with untrained “observers” of the trade, that one can realize the lack of powers of observation of detail in the average human being.

Other natural qualifications required to an efficient observer are that of being

      (a) an “eye worker”;
      (b) able to concentrate attention for unusually
          long periods;
      (c) able to get every thought out of a simple
          written sentence;
      (d) keenly interested in his work;
      (e) accurate;
      (f) possessed of infinite patience;
      (g) an enthusiastic photographer.

The measurer or observer should, preferably, have the intimate knowledge that comes from personal experience of the work to be observed, although such a man is often difficult if not impossible to obtain.

The position of observer illustrates another of the many opportunities of the workmen for promotion from the ranks to higher positions when they are capable of holding the promotion.  Naturally, other things being equal, no man is so well acquainted with the work to be observed as he who has actually done it himself, and if he have also the qualifications of the worker at the work, which should, in the future, surely be determined by study of him and by vocational guidance, he will be able to go at once from his position in the ranks to that of observer, or time study man.

The observer must also familiarize himself with the literature regarding motion study and time study, and must form the habit of recording systematically the minutest details observable.