Last updated on : September 11th, 2025 by R Yadav

Organizations have always measured productivity. But in today's digital-first world, the old ways of measuring performance—time sheets, inboxes, and anecdotal records—are no longer acceptable. Teams today need real-time visibility of their performance, accountability to their functions, and the systems they are using need to provide clarity for leaders and employees. The best project management tools do much more than checklists for teams; they document the workflows, they validate if teams have true roadblocks preventing progress, and their individual contributions and their value in achieving organizational goals. But true productivity is deeper than surface metrics. A team's work may be reported as fast, yet they are not doing effective work aligned to organizational priorities. Likewise, an employee may show on paper that they are busy, but if their work is stalled due to a bottleneck in the work process or unclear accountability with their own standards, it can appear they are being productive. Digital solutions can solve these issues by linking performance to execution and can provide data to demonstrate that productivity is not an arbitrary measure based on speed, but rooted in effectiveness and impact.

Lark Base: turning performance data into structured accountability

Measuring productivity necessitates visibility and accountability. Lark Base creates a unique flexibility that teams utilize as a database to track milestones, tasks, and project updates in real time. No longer do organizations have to depend on disparate project spreadsheets and informal communication. Leaders see how work is moving forward, and the team understands how their work contributes to the bigger picture. Performance measurement is not just output, but also how well teams collaborate and execute together.

• Dashboards can be customized: Leaders can measure completion rates, workloads, and progress on milestones to gain a real-time view of productivity.
• Ownership and responsibilities are visible: Everyone can see what someone is assigned to, and more importantly, performance measurement can be done fairly, and accountability is achieved.
• Automated updates: As work is updated, the changes automatically flow into the system, reducing the ability to report work manually, so productivity metrics are maintained accurately.
• Link to outcomes: Base links customer commitments to project workflows, reinforcing CRM app practices that make performance measurable against business goals.

Lark Approval: tracking decision-making as part of performance

Delays in the decision-making process often erode productivity, yet approvals are seldom, if ever, a part of performance measurement. Lark Approval changes that by making the speed of decision-making and accountability visible. Teams will see how long it takes to move requests from point A to point B, where the bottlenecks are, and whether decision-making is helping or harming productivity.

• Request Tracking: Every approval is logged, so organizations can start measuring their turnaround times, as well as slowdowns that are detrimental to productivity.
• Routing Rules: requests are pushed directly to all the required stakeholders, limiting delays and keeping the work moving.
• Time-to-approve metrics: leaders can assess if their decisions are stalling the output of the team and proactively reform workflows.
• Complete audit history: Running through an automated workflow, Approval creates a record that turns decisions into measurable performance data.

Lark Sheets: measuring productivity with live data

You need data insights to know how you're doing these days. With Lark Sheets, you get spreadsheets that update in real-time and are easy to work on together. This means you can keep tabs on your numbers, share them, and actually do something about them right away. No more waiting around for monthly reports! Now, everyone from managers to workers can see what's going on and adjust as needed.

• KPI tracking templates: Metrics like revenue, campaign results, or project costs can be captured in Sheets so teams always have a single source of truth.
• Conditional formatting: Risks or missed targets are automatically highlighted, helping leaders act before underperformance spreads.
• Scenario modeling: Teams can forecast outcomes, helping organizations measure both current productivity and future capacity.
• Embedded access: By embedding Sheets into Docs or Base, data becomes part of everyday workflows, ensuring that performance metrics drive action.

Lark Calendar: evaluating productivity through time management

How teams utilize their time is one of the clearest representations of productivity. Lark Calendar provides transparent views on deadlines, schedules, and team availability to track whether time is being spent effectively. Leaders receive insights on whether delays are due to bad planning or over-committed capacity, and employees will get clear visibility of shared timelines.

• Project milestone visibility: Deadlines are tied to Calendar events, so adherence to timelines can be measured accurately.
• Team availability insights: Managers can evaluate workload balance and see whether underperformance stems from overcommitment.
• Recurring cycles: Routine events like sprint reviews create consistency, providing checkpoints for productivity evaluation.
• Reminders and alerts: Notifications reinforce accountability and help teams stay aligned with performance expectations.

Lark Minutes: tracking meeting efficiency and follow-through

Performance measurements rarely factor in meetings; however, meetings take time and impact productivity. Lark Minutes helps convert meetings into measurable events by recording what we talked about, what we decided, and if we completed our commitments. Therefore, measured meeting time becomes an asset to performance, rather than a liability for productivity.

• Automatic transcription: Records everything said in a meeting, creating a factual basis to evaluate how time is spent.
• Action item tracking: Commitments from meetings are logged into Tasks, making it easy to measure completion rates.
• Clip sharing: Focused recaps help teams save time while still staying aligned, improving efficiency across departments.

Conclusion: performance made transparent through digital solutions

Measuring productivity in the digital age goes beyond task completion. It requires systems that embrace accountability, make decision-making measurable, and align outcomes with strategy. Lark does this by having Base structure performance data, Approval makes decisions measurable checkpoints, Sheets providing live metrics, Calendar track time use, Minutes capture meetings, and OKRs link everything to strategy.

By enabling organizations to use digital solutions to enhance transparency in performance, organizations not only get visibility into productivity but can continuously improve it.

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