Metrics are used to answer questions, and questions are like fleas: So, naturalists observe, a flea Has smaller fleas that on him prey; And these have smaller still to bite ’em, And so proceed ad infinitum. (Jonathan Swift, On Poetry: A Rhapsody, 1733) So a change in a single metric should be… Continue reading Turtles, questions, and fleas
davids_admin
Two’s company, three’s a crowd
Counting things is generally much easier than defining sharply the boundary between what is to be counted and what is not. Focus often lands on that problem late, when a decision is to be made based on (or at least informed by) the metric and a shift in the definition could change the outcome. … Continue reading Two’s company, three’s a crowd
Testing, testing, 1,2,2,2,2,3
“Salesforce, you see, refuses to release code unless there’s 75% test coverage. A contract developer programming on a deadline looked at that requirement and said …” http://thedailywtf.com/articles/at-least-there-s-tests
Just step across the threshold
“In our analytics-obsessed world, it’s tempting to first ask how to measure whether something is a view, but if we take a step back and just ask what a “view” is, the answer becomes clearer. What is a view? It’s when someone watches the video. And Facebook counts views significantly before people could be said… Continue reading Just step across the threshold
Is that working for you?
“Whether it’s unpaid time waiting around at the beginning or end of a shift, spending time on tasks that are unavoidable but don’t officially count, or being forced to absorb the costs of uncertainties like weather delays and sub-par sales, workers are paying the price for new technologies of measurement in the workplace.” The Future… Continue reading Is that working for you?
Doctoring the numbers
“When the statistics were publicized, some talented surgeons with higher-than-expected mortality statistics lost their operating privileges, while others, whose risk aversion had earned them lower-than-predicted rates, used the report cards to promote their services in advertisements.” Gathering and analyzing the statistics is nonetheless a good idea. Refining the comparison cohorts would be an improvement, but… Continue reading Doctoring the numbers
Mine? What, mine?
Improving mine safety is a great goal. A safer mine has fewer injuries, so counting injury reports might look like an appropriate metric. And, of course, encouraging safety via incentives sounds like a good idea. But… “Besides, Mr. Blankenship was concerned about safety, the miner said. He described an incentive program at Massey where employees… Continue reading Mine? What, mine?
Strategy #1 is focused on the goal, strategy #2 is dodgy, and strategy #3 is dysfunctional.
http://apps.npr.org/grad-rates/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150608
"The things we can measure are never exactly what we care about."
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/opinion/sunday/how-not-to-drown-in-numbers.html
Like some sort of optical illusion, not everyone sees this as a GQM situation right away:
“… [he] began reminiscing about his job as a lineman, in the early nineteen-sixties, for a power company in Wyoming. Copper wire was expensive, and the linemen were instructed to return all unused pieces three feet or longer. No one wanted to deal with the paperwork that resulted, [he] said, so he and his colleagues… Continue reading Like some sort of optical illusion, not everyone sees this as a GQM situation right away: