Looking at ChatPDF for the team. Boss wants a cost-benefit breakdown.
My usual metrics for dev tools:
* **Time per task:** Clock the manual process (reading, summarizing) vs. using the tool. Average it over a week.
* **Reduction in context-switching:** If it keeps people out of 50+ page spec PDFs and gives quick answers, that's huge.
* **Error rate:** Fewer misinterpretations from skimming? Harder to measure, but track support tickets or rework tied to doc misunderstandings.
But with a chatbot for PDFs, how are you quantifying the gain? Is it just:
* Hours saved on manual lookup per engineer per month?
* Faster onboarding for new hires reading legacy docs?
* Something else?
Considering building a quick before/after time study. Would rather not guess.