“I observe that when we mention any great number, such as a thousand, the mind has generally no adequate idea of it, but only a power of producing such an idea by its adequate idea of the decimals, under which the number is comprehended.” Stanislas Dehaene, The Number Sense: how…
At 219 claimed participants in the 2011 HBR consulting metrics report, the number has dropped, since press releases in the past make much of increases (See my post of Oct. 20, 2010: HildebrandtBakerRobbins press release stated 10% increase in participants.). (There is no mention of what number of those 219…
Scrupulous surveyors know that if one person answers all the questions, the methodological concern for “response bias” lurks. Better data comes from multiple sources. Rather than have only the administrator of a legal department, for example, answer questions about practices in a law department – numeric answers are not as…
ACC and Empsight have coordinated for several years on surveys of member law departments. As a company, Empsight focuses on compensation data, at least as summarized by their website: “Empsight International, LLC is a human resource consulting firm which helps employers make better decisions about their investment in people. Our…
The general counsel of inefficient law departments don’t want to provide comparative data that confirm they are operating inefficiently. They are probably less likely to choose to participate in benchmark surveys than their fitter counterparts. Not that anyone sees any specific company’s numbers, because the data are aggregated and normalized.…
If you are thinking about participating in the no-cost, quick and confidential online survey, you might want to see whether you have peers of about your size in your industry. Release 4.0 will go out in early December with more than 750 law departments. Covering 22 industries and five revenue…
We take for granted that fundamental terms in benchmark surveys and reports have clear meanings understood and applied by all. Lord, what fools these mortals be! Setting aside statistical terms, below are 12 that deserve careful definition by surveyors and scrupulous adherence by respondents so that benchmark metrics may be…
The 409 companies so far in the General Counsel Metrics (GCM) global survey report that all together they have 9,900 lawyers (median 7) and 8,212 other legal staff (median 6), which includes paralegals. Their combined legal spend totals $10.2 billion (with a median of $5.6 million) and the revenue of…
When we measure something, such as the time it takes to review advertising brochures, what takes place? As the author David Deutsch writes, “One can claim to have measured a quantity only when one has an explanatory theory of how and why the measurement procedure should reveal its value, and…
Do you have blazoned on your office wall “for every dollar you spend, the company’s sales force has to generate $10 of additional revenue to cover that expense”? The authors, writing in ACC Docket, Nov. 2010 at 81, actually mean “profit,” not “revenue” but the point remains dramatic. If plus…