How to measure the human cost of agent work: review time, rework and cost per task

bibryam · x · 2026-10-26

Michael Cutler proposes a collection protocol to replace assumed oversight time: measure the human effort and agent spend per accepted task at an agreed quality bar.

Key points: define the task class and eligibility rules upfront; register every task, not just shareable runs; use the business task as the unit (a rejected patch plus two revisions = one task, three attempts, no cost reset on new chats); log each attempt's disposition—accepted, rejected, or unreviewed—with reasons and evidence. He notes it's a proposed method, not a completed experiment.

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