2 min lesson
Framing an R&D tradeoff
Match each case in "Framing an R&D tradeoff" to the signal and response that fit it.
Step 1 of 3
Framing an R&D tradeoffthe thought-partner skill
"Is this experiment worth it?" is the recurring question. You answer it by making three things explicit so the owner can decide with eyes open.
What does success buy - a better model, lower serving cost, a new capability?
Size it honestly, including the chance it doesn't land.
The GPU-hours and engineering time the bet consumes.
Stated in the same currency as everything else competing for capacity.
What those GPU-hours could do instead - including shipping.
The question that's usually missing: what are we not doing to run this?
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Full explanation
Drive efficiency programs end-to-end
Drive efficiency programs end-to-endowning the outcome, not just the analysis
Beyond framing single decisions, you run standing efficiency programs to completion. These are real programs with a goal, owners and risks - cost optimization, migrations, reliability - and you carry them from problem to measured result, not just to a recommendation.
- Cost optimization - a measurable reduction in cost per inference or per active user, tracked to a number.
- Migrations - moving serving onto cheaper or faster infrastructure, sequenced so production never blinks.
- Reliability - keeping latency and uptime within SLA while costs come down, since a cheap service that misses its latency budget is worthless.