Mark Hocknell, my lead licensed PuMP Partner, wrote this article, "Let's Ban KPIs", which was posted here as well as Mark's own website. To avoid duplicate content, this article now links...

A perceived lack of data - or lack of data with reasonable quality - is a constraint that stops many people from even trying to develop meaningful performance measures. That sounds logical enough, but it assumes that value of measurement only comes at the end of the process. What if you measured without data?

We shouldn't measure something because it's easy to. Nor should we measure something because we always have. Nor should we measure something because "they" do. We should measure something only because it tells us what we need to know. Can your KPIs pass this test? ...

Most performance measures or KPIs will have targets. After all, we have them to focus us on improving performance. But that focus can fracture if we don't take care in how we express our measures and our targets, so they speak the same language.

Too often we assume that performance measurement depends on technical systems, like a business intelligence system or dashboard application. But for performance measurement to become entrenched in how our organisations work, it's the non-technical systems that matter most.

In PuMP we use a tool called the Measurability Tests to find out, and fix, the measurability of goals. If a goal fails the Measurability Tests, it cannot be meaningfully measured. That's rework. Wouldn't it be better if we write our goals measurably in the first place?

It's so very hard to set a target for our monthly workplace injuries measure of 5. It feels like we're aiming to injure 5 employees! That's not ethical, is it? It only feels right to set the target as 0. But then we feel like we're setting ourselves up to fail. The tension is awkward. What to do?

If your performance culture isn't very strong, if people just aren't into measuring and improving, you might think your organisation isn't yet ready for developing better KPIs. But the opposite is actually true: your organisation needs better KPIs, right now.

by Louise Watson, PuMP Partner People often talk about creating SMART measures, but that's not what this tool is for. SMART is for goals. But even then, it's very easy to get it all wrong and end up with DUMB goals anyway. In this article, Louise Watson guides us in how to use SMART properly.

Listen to the media and you'll quickly realise that measurement is too often used as a political tool, to push a political agenda rather than discover the truth. (more…)