E11 · Hidden cost driver
Synthetic practice, not company performance.
One decision
Which operational cost deserves attention?
Run the exact query
WITH b AS (SELECT * FROM v_task WHERE ('all'='all' OR persona='all') AND ('all'='all' OR workflow='all') AND ('all'='all' OR substr(signup_at,1,7)='all') AND date(created_at)>='2026-05-01' AND date(created_at)<'2026-10-01') SELECT c.component,SUM(c.quantity) units,c.unit,SUM(c.cost_usd) cost_usd FROM sim_costs c JOIN b USING(task_id) GROUP BY c.component,c.unit ORDER BY cost_usd DESC;
Download SQL · Result CSV · Metabase saved question
Chart and reading
Rank dollar components, not summed heterogeneous units.
Challenge your recommendation
Would suppressing support tickets only hide work?
Guardrails: Do not add heterogeneous units; quantity and rate remain component-specific.
Next evidence: Support resolution quality, invoice reconciliation and utilization assumptions.
PRD sections: 14, 17. Open proposed PRD
Your spoken decision
State one takeaway, one caveat and one action in 30 seconds. Then stop.
Connect this finding
What this chart helps decide · Follow the connected decision · Canonical metric definitions
Optional model answer — try your own first
E11 · Hidden cost driver
Decision: Which operational cost deserves attention?
Readout: Rank dollar components, not summed heterogeneous units.
Actual query output (synthetic), first rows:
| component | units | unit | cost_usd |
|---|---|---|---|
| support | 3871.66 | staff_minute | 2129.413 |
| vendor_review | 1554.456 | staff_minute | 1010.3964 |
| render_compute | 343760.0 | compute_second | 110.0032 |
Model spoken answer: I would investigate the largest avoidable cost component and protect the quality of support.
Caveat/counterargument: Would suppressing support tickets only hide work? Do not add heterogeneous units; quantity and rate remain component-specific.
Next evidence: Support resolution quality, invoice reconciliation and utilization assumptions.
Deliberately left out: Raw unit counts across seconds, GB and staff minutes.