AI’s first metric should be minutes saved

Talk time, not tokens

Model sizes impress engineers but users care only about how long a task still takes; if AI cuts that duration it earns its keep otherwise it is academic. A clever feature that leaves the stopwatch unchanged is placebo wrapped in code. Tie every sprint goal to time-to-done and watch appetites align.

Compounding returns

Ten minutes trimmed from a routine repeated ten times a day equals an hour a week and fifty work hours a year. Small efficiencies snowball into strategic capacity, freeing bandwidth for advisory work and continuous improvement. What starts as convenience ends as competitive edge.

Ship or shelve

Demand a clear stopwatch win before release, not a promise. Features that fail the time test belong back on the whiteboard where they can incubate or die quick deaths. Discipline here keeps roadmaps honest and users grateful.