Measures
Choosing measures
One measure can be optimised. Two that oppose each other require genuine improvement.
Choosing a Measure Teams Will Accept
A measure imposed produces resistance and gaming. A measure chosen with the team produces neither, and is usually better.
Volume Measures and Their Failure Mode
Counting things done is the default measure. It works, within limits, and the limits are predictable.
Quality Measures as the Counterweight
A measure that pulls against the volume measure is the single most effective protection against gaming. How to pick one.
Flow: Lead Time and Cycle Time
Measuring how long things take rather than how many were done. The approach that works where units are not comparable.
Rework, Defects and the Cost of Doing It Twice
Work done again is effort spent with no output. It is usually the largest avoidable loss and the least measured.
Waiting: the Largest Hidden Loss
In most processes the majority of elapsed time is queueing. It is invisible to productivity measures and cheap to reduce.
Utilisation, and Why High Is Not Good
Keeping everybody busy is the instinct and it makes the system slower. The arithmetic behind that is well established.
Composite Indices and Why They Mislead
Combining several measures into one index is tempting for reporting and destroys the information that made them useful.