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Time Is Not Value: Why We Need to Rethink How We Measure Work in the Age of AI
Why are we still billing hours in knowledge work — like we’re on the production line?
Imagine this: you’re a strategist who used to spend 5 hours developing a marketing plan. Now, with the help of Generative AI, you do it in under 30 minutes. The client still gets a plan that moves the needle — but now your invoice reads “0.5 hours.”
Do you charge less for better, faster work?
This dilemma is hitting knowledge workers across industries like a freight train. And the root of the problem is simple: we’re still pricing knowledge work like we’re on an assembly line.
Some people would address this issue in the following:
“In many projects, things still work like this: — Contracts based on weekly hours. — Billing by person-days. — Time tracking accurate to the quarter hour.”
“This model comes from a time when performance was directly tied to presence — such as in industrial manufacturing.”
“But in today’s knowledge work? Where outcomes like strategies, concepts, or content don’t emerge in a linear relationship to working hours?”
I would conclude with the following question:
“Why are we still billing hours in knowledge…
