https://benn.substack.com/p/method-for-measuring-analytical-work

He who hesitates is lost

The moment an analyst is asked a question, a timer starts. When a decision gets made based on that question, the timer stops. Analysts’ singular goal should be to minimize the hours and days on that timer.

That’s the only metric we should measure ourselves on—straight up, without qualification or caveat. The lower the number is across all the decisions we’re involved in, the better we’re performing.

First and foremost, if the point of analysis is to help people make decisions, this measures that goal most directly.

Beyond measuring the right goal, focusing on the time it takes to make a decision has several other benefits, both in how it measures our work and in the incentives it creates for us as analysts.

First, it forces us to understand the problem we’ve been asked to solve.

Second, it encourages us to see problems as others do rather than as we do. We have to understand the intuitions that people use to make decisions, and the operational context in which they make them.

Third, it provides a useful counterbalance against analytical excess. One of the challenges for analysts is to figure out when something is done.

Fourth, minimizing this time puts a clear—and appropriate—emphasis on the value of communication.

Ignore all the ambiguity around measuring analytical quality and ROI, and do whatever it takes to make others more decisive.