[fiprofessor]

Yes, but sometimes switching to arithmetic/absolute thinking is the right thing to do.

For example, suppose an engineer who is paid $200k per year can spend a week to implement an optimization that reduces costs by 0.1%. If that is 0.1% of something that costs $50 million per year, then that's not a bad use of time.

[distcs]

> For example, suppose an engineer who is paid $200k per year can spend a week to implement an optimization that reduces costs by 0.1%. If that is 0.1% of something that costs $50 million per year, then that's not a bad use of time.

Is it not? I don't know. I don't run a multi-million dollar business. So this is an honest question. 0.1% of $50 million is a meagre $50000. If someone is running a business that is spending $50 million per year on something, are they really going to care about a small $50k saving per year?

[fiprofessor]

Well, it's not worth it to bring this optimization to the attention of the CEO. But it definitely exceeds the engineer's weekly cost by a lot, so if it only takes a week, it's potentially worth it (modulo opportunity costs for other things to work on).

Spin it around: is it worth it for a sales person who makes $200k per year to spend a week to land a $50,000 per year contract? I think it potentially is, for the same reason, even if the organization as whole makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

[asah]

google search engineering has entered the chat! https://www.google.com/search?q=google+41+shades+of+blue

[thomastjeffery]

Your example is starting with absolute arithmetic, and sticking with it. There is no change.