Howard Scott, "History and Purpose of Technocracy" in Northwest Technocrat, (July 1965) p. 7-8.
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We never had any use for Taylor or any of the efficiency or scientific management crowd. They never realized that human toil was the last thing in the world you had to be efficient about; the only way to be really efficient is to eliminate it entirely, and this would have been heresy to any of the Taylor, Gant, Barth, Cook efficiency crowd. It is sad to contemplate that men of the technical ability of the names mentioned in this paragraph were so lame in their thinking and social outlook that they missed the boat so completely. Who in hell wants to be efficient with a shovel, and what sense would there be even if you succeeded? They should have had their heads opened with a shovel; it might have been more effective.

— Howard Scott

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "We never had any use for Taylor or any of the efficiency or scientific management crowd. They never realized that human toil was the last thing in the world you had to be efficient about; the only way to be really efficient is to eliminate it entirely, and this would have been heresy to any of the Taylor, Gant, Barth, Cook efficiency crowd. It is sad to contemplate that men of the technical ability of the names mentioned in this paragraph were so lame in their thinking and social outlook that they missed the boat so completely. Who in hell wants to be efficient with a shovel, and what sense would there be even if you succeeded? They should have had their heads opened with a shovel; it might have been more effective." in the context of "Howard Scott, "History and Purpose of Technocracy" in Northwest Technocrat, (July 1965) p. 7-8." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Frederick Winslow Taylor" (Quotes about Frederick Winslow Taylor) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Frederick Winslow Taylor

About Frederick Winslow Taylor

Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer, one of the first management consultants, and is regarded as the father of scientific management.