Thursday, January 06, 2011


The Seven Deadly Sins of Measurement
Jim Champy, coauthor, with Harry Greenspun, of Reengineering Health Care: A Manifesto for Radically Rethinking Health Care Delivery, introduces a lesson on the pitfalls of measurement from Faster, Cheaper, Better: The 9 Levers for Transforming How Work Gets Done, by Michael Hammer and Lisa W. Hershman.

Very interesting summary and I strongly suggest going to the article. Remember, you only get what you measure:

"....Vanity. One of the most widespread failings in performance measurement is to use measures whose sole purpose is to make the organization, its people, and especially its managers look good.
 ...Provincialism. This sin permits organizational boundaries and concerns to dictate performance metrics..

...Narcissism. This is the unpardonable offense of measuring from one’s own point of view, rather than from the customer’s perspective.
 ...Laziness. This is a trap into which even those who avoid narcissism often fall: assuming you know what is important to measure without giving it adequate thought or effort.
...Pettiness. Too many companies measure only a small component of what matters
...Inanity. Metrics drive behavior, but too many companies implement metrics without giving any thought to the consequences of these metrics for human behavior and consequently for enterprise performance.
...Frivolity. Not taking measurement seriously is perhaps the most grievous sin of them all"

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