The instrument you use to collect data for your performance measures or KPIs really needs to be capable of recording the data you really need. Forms and questionnaires are probably the most common instruments used in business to collect data, but few users realise that there is science and skill at the foundation of every useful form and questionnaire.

Project performance measurement isn't just on-time and on-budget. Here are 7 ways for how to measure project performance meaningfully. (more…)

Guest author Martin Klubeck, author of Metrics: How to Improve Key Business Results, suggests that seeking quick-fix KPIs means you're not really ready for proper KPIs.

Don't default to familiar or traditional KPI monitoring methods; focus first on the two comparisons that get the most insight from our performance measures. (more…)

When I first started my career in performance measurement, the Balanced Scorecard was the new thing. I was really excited at first, as it was being heralded as the best methodology for measuring organisational performance that had ever been developed. I was the Measurement Consultant in Queensland Rail at that time, and my hope was that I’d found the guidance I’d been looking for to lead my col...

One of the challenges of making data-based decisions - using our KPIs or performance measures to guide our choices - is that often the data can prove us wrong. As Seth Godin says in his post The Do Over, if we're really going to let data inform our decisions, we have to be brave in admitting...

One of the biggest objections to measuring performance is the perceived effort and time it will take to do it. Is it true? Is the benefit of measuring not worth the burden? (more…)

Do you want to improve the validity of your survey-based performance measures? Upping the response rate is one of the ways to do that. Harvard Business Review posted this article about how attaching a hand-written personalised sticky note to each survey form you send to a recipient can double your response rate:

Are you holding back from better performance measurement because your leaders aren't open to it, or because your colleagues are too busy, or because your organisation isn't ready for it? What's really holding you back is YOU and not them...

We've all seen performance targets that work and ones that don't. They can motivate teams to make big-step improvements or they can manipulate teams into behaviours that sabotage other important results. So should we get rid of targets? Or can we do something else to make them work?