To measure, or not to measure ...
... that is the question. ( I hope you will forgive my paraphrasing of Shakespeare’s famous soliloquy from “Hamlet” ). In management, one good piece of advice is to pick meaningful metrics that drive the result you want. Because, let’s face it, people will do that on which they’re measured. For instance, if you’re trying to grow your organization’s membership, what’s the best metric you can find that lets you measure how well you’re doing? Is it the number of new members? Maybe it’s your retention rate. Beware! There’s a world of difference between “meaningful” metrics and “vanity” metrics. Some common “vanity” metrics are page views, number of visitors, social media likes, etc. To differentiate between the two types, ask yourself 3 questions: Can I tie this back to real performance? Does this reflect what’s REALLY happening? Can I do something useful with this information? But beware of something known in economic circles as “Goodhart’s Law”. Charles Goo...