3 ms·

I would contend those fixes -do- add to the bottom line. Making a user's job take less time frees them to do other things. Those other things may have value; t

I would contend those fixes -do- add to the bottom line. Making a user's job take less time frees them to do other things. Those other things may have value; that value is only captured because of the time saved due to your effort. Even if that time becomes effectively 'free' time for the user, that increase in happiness and morale makes them more likely to be more productive in other areas, less likely to leave the company (however small an effect), etc. Don't dismiss something that makes someone's life easier as having no monetary value just because you can't easily quantify it.

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harlanji 9y ago
Sounds theoretical. Salary is fixed and if there’s a supply of alternative workers and resource scarcity mentality then allowing employees free time makes them more valuable to and easier to engage by competitors. Qualatative arguments go out the window when the shoe strings tighten in my experience. My ideals agree and I’ve banged my head trying to maintain boundaries with my managers, now 5 jobs in. Experience is with VC in Bay Area... work life in Minneapolis was pretty chill tho, 2 longer jobs there with good people.
- zrobotics 9y ago
  Alternatively, the time saved allows them to move onto other tasks and accomplish more in a day. Saving 30 seconds on a database query can add up to years of time in a large company. It's not that uncommon for hardware engineers to be issued a company credit card, simply for the time saved vs bugging a manager for a purchase order for a $5.00 digikey order.
  - Hextinium 9y ago
    So much this, if an engineer is paid $50 a hour and it takes 30 seconds to load a prompt. Loading the promt just cost the company 40 cents. If they have to run that promt 3 times a day then it's $500 a year that can be saved by just optimization.
    - ihattendorf 9y ago
      It doesn't work that way though. The company didn't spend an extra $500 that year because an engineer spent 90 seconds each day opening a few prompts. They paid that engineer the same salary as the other case. Maybe the engineer just spent 90 seconds less each day on their phone, or stayed until 5:01:30 that day instead. Or took a shorter lunch. Or only had 6-7 hours of work each day anyway so it didn't make a difference.

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harlanji 9y ago

Sounds theoretical. Salary is fixed and if there’s a supply of alternative workers and resource scarcity mentality then allowing employees free time makes them more valuable to and easier to engage by competitors. Qualatative arguments go out the window when the shoe strings tighten in my experience. My ideals agree and I’ve banged my head trying to maintain boundaries with my managers, now 5 jobs in. Experience is with VC in Bay Area... work life in Minneapolis was pretty chill tho, 2 longer jobs there with good people.

zrobotics 9y ago
Alternatively, the time saved allows them to move onto other tasks and accomplish more in a day. Saving 30 seconds on a database query can add up to years of time in a large company. It's not that uncommon for hardware engineers to be issued a company credit card, simply for the time saved vs bugging a manager for a purchase order for a $5.00 digikey order.
- Hextinium 9y ago
  So much this, if an engineer is paid $50 a hour and it takes 30 seconds to load a prompt. Loading the promt just cost the company 40 cents. If they have to run that promt 3 times a day then it's $500 a year that can be saved by just optimization.
  - ihattendorf 9y ago
    It doesn't work that way though. The company didn't spend an extra $500 that year because an engineer spent 90 seconds each day opening a few prompts. They paid that engineer the same salary as the other case. Maybe the engineer just spent 90 seconds less each day on their phone, or stayed until 5:01:30 that day instead. Or took a shorter lunch. Or only had 6-7 hours of work each day anyway so it didn't make a difference.