  We put forth a notion of optimality for extracting ergotropic work, derived
from an energy constraint governing the necessary dynamics for work extraction
in a quantum system. Within the traditional ergotropy framework, which predicts
an infinite set of equivalent pacifying unitaries, we demonstrate that the
optimal choice lies in driving along the geodesic connecting a given state to
its corresponding passive state. Moreover, in a practical scenario where
unitaries are inevitably affected by environmental factors, we refine the
existing definition of ergotropy and introduce the notion of operational
ergotropy. It enables the characterization of work extraction in noisy
scenarios. We find that for certain typical noise models, the optimal choice
which governs the Schrodinger part of the dynamics, aligns with the optimal
drive in the unperturbed scenario. However, we demonstrate that such optimality
is not universal by presenting an explicit counterexample. Additionally, within
this generalized framework, we discuss the potential for faster work extraction
from quantum systems in the presence of noise.
