Comment by byrneseyeview | Hacker News Reader

Comment by byrneseyeview | Hacker News Reader

"What I hope this demonstrates is that some of the most common programming/design tasks (such as compiling/rendering) which can take perhaps 1-2 minutes but are performed 50 times a day can mean a serious waste of time and therefore money. And by using simple Manager Mathematics you can calculate how much is being wasted and use it to justify buying hardware/software which will reduce that time."

So 'manager math' means figuring out the total cost of wasted time by multiplying wasted time per task by number of tasks by cost of time? It takes 'manager math' to say "If you make $50/hour and screw around for eight hours, you'll cost us $400"?

I look forward to tomorrow's installment of Manager Emailing, in which we find that if you write a message, and send it to a particular email address, the owner of that email address will get a message saying exactly the same thing! It's like magic!

You'd be surprised at how few people think of situations this way. Even managers that can do "Manager Math" aren't the norm.

Managers (smart ones at least) sell their ideas by spelling them out in dollars and cents. The guy wanted new pc's for his staff. In order to sell that he simply calculated how much more efficient they could be in a way that a two year old could understand.

That's his whole point.

His point was that to figure out if something is worth doing, you compare the costs to the benefits?

Am I missing something important? Is it a parody?

Maybe the point is that you tend to overlook the total cost because of the small cost per event and because you are conditioned to accept the cost as a necessary evil.

IDK, but I do know that managers love those kinds of justifications.

In that case, it's a question of attitude, not (simple, ridiculously obvious) equations. Why is it called 'math', much less 'manager math', when it's really about being stingy?

His point was that little costs can add up, and help you make the case that a big cost can actually be a cost savings.

You see this happen a lot, especially with costs that are sunk, like salaries. I don't know how many times I've seen the choice towards increasing workload and staff - even though it costs more than just buying a better piece of software - being made.

I'm not sure of your background, but obviously this post isn't aimed at you. If you've ever had to sit around a table at budget time however, it's pretty much a given that a good deal of people aren't able to do "manager math".

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