---
id: "quote-measure-what-workers-do"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ They Measure Real-World Performance", "¶16"]
tags: ["metrics", "management-philosophy"]
related: ["claim-traditional-training-metrics-fail", "contrarian-training-hours-are-useless", "action-track-human-ai-handoffs"]
speaker: "Tracey Countryman, Inge Oosterhuis, Jeff Wheless and Rushda Afzal"
speakers: ["Tracey Countryman", "Inge Oosterhuis", "Jeff Wheless", "Rushda Afzal"]
quote: "Measure what workers do, not what you think they do."
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/05/the-best-manufacturers-build-ai-with-workers-not-for-them"
sourceTitle: "The Best Manufacturers Build AI with Workers, Not for Them"
sources: ["adoption"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-adoption"
originDay: 9
articleStem: "hbr-cl-78-build-ai-with-workers"
---
# Measure Actions, Not Assumptions

> "Measure what workers do, not what you think they do."
> — **Tracey Countryman, Inge Oosterhuis, Jeff Wheless and Rushda Afzal**

The authors' core directive for evaluating workforce readiness. It is the one-line distillation of [[claim-traditional-training-metrics-fail]] and the contrarian insight [[contrarian-training-hours-are-useless]], and it points directly at the measurement practice in [[action-track-human-ai-handoffs]]. Attributed to all four coauthors: [[entity-tracey-countryman]], [[entity-inge-oosterhuis]], [[entity-jeff-wheless]], [[entity-rushda-afzal]].