---
id: "question-measuring-implicit-roi"
type: "open-question"
source_timestamps: ["§ Three Ways to Respond"]
tags: ["metrics", "business-case"]
related: ["framework-three-responses"]
resolutionPath: "Empirical case studies comparing the total cost of ownership (including error remediation and client churn) of naive vs. informed AI deployments over a 2-3 year horizon."
sources: ["agentic"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-agentic"
originDay: 6
articleStem: "hbr-new-26-agentic-systems-implicit-rules"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/how-to-design-agentic-systems-around-the-implicit-rules-that-govern-your-company"
sourceTitle: "How to Design Agentic Systems Around the Implicit Rules that Govern Your Company"
---
# How to measure the ROI of Informed Reengineering?

**Open question:** How do you measure the ROI of informed reengineering?

The author argues that *informed reengineering* is the only successful path ([[framework-three-responses]]) — but mapping the [[concept-implicit-organization]] and building deliberate hesitation is significantly more expensive and time-consuming than agent insertion. The text provides **no framework for calculating the ROI** of this slower, more deliberate approach against the short-term cost savings of naive automation.

**Resolution path:** Empirical case studies comparing the total cost of ownership — *including error remediation and client churn* — of naive vs. informed AI deployments over a 2–3 year horizon.