What people actually do
Eight responses, named, with the timescale of each and what it does to the number and to the firm.
Eight Things People Do When the Figure Matters
A catalogue of the responses a utilisation target produces, each with its timescale and its real effect. None requires dishonesty.
Moving Hours Between Codes
The commonest response to a target, the hardest to criticise, and the one that produces the clearest trace in the aggregate data.
Deferring Work With No Deadline
Non-billable work is almost all deferrable, which makes it the cheapest source of a better figure and the most expensive one to defer.
Booking Now and Writing Off Later
Hours booked in one quarter can be waived in another. The timing gap lets a figure look good for two reports before the money arrives.
The Quarter Internal Projects Stop
A firm introduced a utilisation target and lost its template maintenance, its onboarding material and its knowledge base within three quarters. None of it was a decision.
Working More Hours to Raise the Ratio
The response that looks like commitment. It works arithmetically, it is invisible in the ratio, and it selects for the people who will leave.
Rounding, Six Minutes at a Time
The recording unit decides how much rounding a week contains. Tenths of an hour, applied to forty entries, is two or three per cent a year.
Everybody Hitting the Target Exactly
A firm's utilisation distribution had a spike at exactly the target and a gap above it. What that shape proves and what it does not.