A production function is an engineering and economics concept. It’s the maximum output that can be achieved from given inputs. The concept can be a metaphor for how think of our productivity.

If you need to understand another person’s production function (e.g for an interview), consider asking: What ideas and work have you produced at your last job? What practices and traits do you attribute to your productivity? What’s your comparative advantage relative to your peers?

Your goal is to learn the interviewee’s awareness of their productivity and how they engineer their life for maximum productivity. Why would you do this?

The person who ships more work gets more feedback about their work.

A person’s ability to delivery high quality work may be correlated to the amount of critique they receive.