What Gets Measured Gets Done
July 11, 20128
Ever heard the phrase “What gets measured gets done?” It gets tossed around when someone is trying to convince you of adding a metric to your project or scorecard. It sounds good, doesn’t it? If we can measure X, then we will achieve the performance we want.
It is not that easy. Simply measuring something does not ensure that some action will then take place. Consider a rain gauge, which measures how much rain has fallen (+/- evaporation, which may be calculated based on temperature and humidity). Nothing gets done, however, just because you have measured the rain. Nothing gets “done” by looking at the rain gauge.
So measure something that needs an action attached to it. Let’s assume you have a garden that needs water to survive and produce food for your family. In this example, the only way to ensure that “what gets measured gets done” is to program a piece of machinery to execute a set of commands based on the rain gauge’s measurement. Now you have a moisture gauge that is linked to your sprinkler system that controls the length of time the sprinkler runs based on the amount of rain received that day.
There is a lot more that goes into any process than just measurement. There are three fundamental practices that are needed for your scoreboard or dashboard to be effective:
- The goals and metrics you are measuring have to align with corporate goals. If they align with your overall strategy, those goals and metrics still need to pass the “gut check.” Does it make sense? If I do this, will I get the results that I want?
- Demonstrate the link between the metrics and the overall corporate goals. Just because they align does not mean that the people performing the work see that connection. This link to overall company performance is key. The metrics/goals must be simple enough that each person sees that the tasks they work on each day impact the overall company’s performance.
- Leadership has to follow-up – simply measuring something will NEVER ensure an action (or actions) “gets done.” Leadership must review, challenge and provide feedback on the work being done. All work fails if the people performing the work don’t feel like they are part of the team. Employees will care about results because leadership cares about them.
Use the phrase “what gets measured gets done” with confidence and know that your dashboard/scoreboard will achieve the desired results – what gets measured makes sense, aligns with goals and is followed-up upon.
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I have ofter used a similar phrase. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
Jay,
Yes, the inverse is true. You have to measure something if you want to improve it. Much like Lord Kelvin said “If you can’t measure it, You can’t improve it.”
Good point. As I update this thinking. I’ll have to comment about that point as well. Jeff
Very true; good article.
However, any article using a variation of the quote — I think — merits attribution to the original quality and management guru who helped create what it is we do today: W. Edwards Deming.
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” – W. Edwards Deming
Tyson,
Again excellent point. Yes, need to give credit to origin of statement. Thank you, for your comment.
Most give credit to Deming. However, several sources (one such posted on Wikipedia) does not credit Deming with the quote. Here is an excerpt.
Deming realized that many important things that must be managed couldn’t be measured. Both points are important. One, not everything of importance to management can be measured. And two, you must still manage those important things. Spend $20,000 training 10 people in a special skill. What’s the benefit? “You’ll never know,” answered Deming. “You’ll never be able to measure it. Why did you do it? Because you believed it would pay off. Theory.” Deming is often incorrectly quoted as saying, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” In fact, he stated that one of the seven deadly diseases of management is running a company on visible figures alone.
Thank you. Jeff
So measuring things is just a matter of ” point of view”.
We can dig deep in to variables that we can measure but there will another one and another one…
And there will be always a variable that we will never achive to fully measure…humman.
We have a joke in the company that I work,when we want to pick the reporting officers,we ask them to make a prediction of how many agents will be sick in three months deep and for how long…measure that.
I have often used the phrase “What can not be measured can not be improved”
Joshi,
This is actually much closer to the original quote. The article was to discuss the tendency of organizations to measure too many Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and expect results with out building the strucuture that supports improvement. Measuring too many KPI’s, not following up and not linking daily performance to the KPI ensures frustration by anyone looking at the metrics. Thank you, for your comment. Jeff
This principle is exactly behind the Repeace project.
As far as social change no protest has any purpose unless it has a clear demand and the demand can be measured and be big enough to exercise the needed pressure on our institutions.
This was also written in Bernays’ famous book: Propaganda
–”A desire for a specific reform, however widespread, cannot be translated into action until it is made articulate, and until it has exerted sufficient pressure upon the proper law-making bodies. Millions of housewives may feel that manufactured foods deleterious to health should be prohibited. But there is little chance that their individual desires will be translated into effective legal form unless their halfexpressed demand can be organized, made vocal, and concentrated upon the state legislature or upon the Federal Congress in some mode which will produce the results they desire.” –