As many of you know, I’m a solutions architect for an international consulting company, responsible for software development projects up and down the West Coast. In addition to setting technical direction and managing teams of software developers, I have to write proposals and justify why companies should hire us to do their work. This often involves an ROI, or Return on Investment: how long will it take to see a benefit to undertaking the task. This is usually not just a question of monetary terms, but other conditions as well, such as easing difficult or cumbersome processes and thereby increasing worker satisfaction. It sounds difficult if you’ve never written one, but it’s a pretty straight-forward evaluation that most people perform in an indirect way in their daily lives without realizing it. Let me walk you through a real-life example.

I was on a major energy lull this afternoon and decided to get myself a cup of coffee at the cafe up the street from my office. The coffee there is my least-favorite in the area, but it’s still good. (This is Seattle, after all; most gas stations have in-house espresso stands and serve better coffee than the majority of the cities I’ve been. )

This particular joint is run by a guy who appears to have a near-zero interest in performing his duties and hangs out in the back in a cloud of cannabis smoke. I usually have to throw a shoe at him in order to get his attention. In addition to the cost of the double espresso ($1.85) my investment includes the dread I feel approaching this situation knowing that I’m going to have to pick a shoe to throw (which involves thinking all the way back to that morning and trying to remember which of the two socks I’m wearing is cleaner and has fewer holes) as well as knowing that I’m going to have to explain to him that I need the shoe back and that it is not a bong.

I placed my coffee order and waited patiently for him to pull the espresso and request the payment of $1.85. I gave him a $5.00 bill after which he gave me my change of $18.15. All in all, not a terrible ROI but only barely good enough to warrant going back again.