Frederick Winslow Taylor published The Principles of Scientific Management in 1911. “Perhaps the most prominent single element in modern scientific management is the task idea,” he wrote. “The work of every workman is fully planned out by the management at least one day in advance.” In most cases, each worker receives “complete written instructions, describing in detail the task which he is to accomplish.”
The task, Taylor explained, “specifies not only what is to be done but how it is to be done and the exact time allowed for doing it.”