"Management 3.0" has a blurb they call "12 Rules for Metrics"
There are a few of these I find unique and interesting, repeated here, more or less:
- "Measure for a purpose": Without using those words exactly, I have written on this topic many times. Don't ask for metrics and measurements unless you have a plan for using the data productively to advance the project
- "Shrink the unknown": This is a play on you 'can't measure everything'. Their advice: find peripheral metrics that add up to a better knowledge of that which is not directly measurable.
- "Set imprecise targets": A modern version of advice developed in post-World War II quality movements of the day, this idea is that precise targets become the tactical objective to the detriment of progress on the strategic purpose of the project.
Editorial: innovation may be stifled if there is too much focus on the nearby tactical objective, to wit: be agile! - "Don't connect metrics to rewards": Another piece of advice from the distant past which opines that rewards should be directed toward strategic outcomes.
Anecdote: when incentives were placed on finding errors in code, then what occasionally happened is that coding was more near-term sloppy, knowing that putting the quality in last would be financially rewarding.
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