Save your team w/ simple math.

I’ve seen a pattern over the past few years that’s put a lot of good teams at risk of being cut. Their work is solid and the output looks great, but when the CEO/CFO asks, "What’s the actual impact on REVENUE?" teams are like 😳. They’ve got a bunch of vanity/secondary metrics they can point to, but can’t really show direct impact on $$$.

This is happening with design, product, marketing, ops.. everywhere. Budgets are scrutinized and leaders are being asked to justify headcount with real numbers, not just feel-good stories. This is even more true now with AI gobbling everything.

If you can’t connect your work to dollars saved, revenue gained, or hours freed up, you’re vulnerable. Even if the work is excellent. This isn’t a reason to panic. But it IS a reason to get sharper.

I thought I’d share some tips and tricks on how to calculate the impact of your team’s work.

A simple model you can steal right now

Most teams try to defend their work by talking about quality. Or customer love. Or brand equity. Those are all great (and important) things. BUT when the CFO shows up, what they really want is this.. Before → After → ROI.

Here’s a quick example I use with clients to model time savings into business impact:

1. Pick a repeatable task. Let’s say there’s a weekly workflow used by 100 employees.

2. Measure the old way. It takes 8 hours a week per person. You get this from observation, interviews, or just watching how the work happens.

3. Improve it and retest. After a redesign or automation, it drops to 5 hours. Same task. Less pain. More flow.

4. Do the math.

   3 hours saved per person
   x 100 employees = 300 hours a week
   x $50/hour (blended cost) = $15,000/week saved
   x 52 weeks = $780,000 annual savings

5. Package it. Don’t build a crazy long presentation deck. Build a succinct story.
   Slide 1: The problem
   Slide 2: What you did about it
   Slide 3: The financial impact shown as real $$$
   Slide 4: Finally, show the thing you made/did/built and the secondary metrics

That’s it.

This works for product managers improving an onboarding funnel. It works for ops leaders streamlining back-office work. It works for marketing teams automating repetitive reporting. It works for designers improving the user flow or journey for a customer.

Putting this into action:
What was your most recent win? Model the time or money saved from the work. Use a simple spreadsheet (or the calculator I shared above). Build your 4-slide story. Share it before anyone asks. This is key. Don’t wait to get called to the mat before you do this. Share it proactively.

If your looking for other ways to model your team’s value beyond cost savings, check out this newsletter from last year.

What most teams get wrong

A lot of teams focus or talk about metrics other than the money. They’ll talk about the craft. Or the features. Or the shiny new AI thing they shipped. Or some other thing that isn’t directly tied to the bottom line. All of that is nice, but none of it will save you when the financial/budget review comes. The math will. Here’s the brutal truth. If you can’t model your own impact, someone else will probably model your irrelevance 😬

Why does this matter for customer and employee experience? Leaders often ask me, "How do I make the case for experience work?" This is how. Don’t just talk about delight, trust, loyalty. Talk about dollars AND delight. Talk about hours freed up for better work AND what the financial impact was. Talk about how customers stayed longer because things just work better AND spent more money.

This mindset shift shifts the perception of experience design to real business impact. It also builds trust with execs. They stop seeing your team as a cost center and start seeing you as a growth lever/profit center.

Own the value before someone questions it

Here’s a micro-challenge for this week. Pick a feature, workflow, or process you improved in the last month. Estimate the time or cost saved per user or employee. Multiply by the number of users or employees. Package that into a quick business case and share it in your next leadership meeting. Don’t wait to be asked. Don’t wait to be cut. Own the math. Own the story. Own the value.

Onward & upward 🤘
Drew

P.s. If we haven’t met yet, hello! I’m Drew Burdick, Founder and Managing Partner at StealthX. We work with brands to design & build great customer experiences that win. I share ideas weekly through this newsletter & over on the Building Great Experiences podcast. Have a question? Feel free to contact us, I’d love to hear from you.