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How Apple use ‘Observable Consequences’
Figuring out how vulnerable your software is to malicious attack has got to be right up there on the ‘hard to measure stuff’ league table. Why? Because anyone who knows how to hack your software probably isn’t going to tell you that they can. The most valuable exploits are the ones that no-one knows about.…
Process KPIs, the pain-free way
Some KPIs are obvious, but important… When it comes to choosing some KPIs, careful thought may be needed to align them with strategy (see this article on why you should use KPI Trees to do this). Other measures are in the ‘obvious but important’ camp. In process and production environments it’s fairly safe to say that we care about…
How to Measure Just About Anything
How can we use the wisdom and experience gained by the makers of Sesame Street, the chief librarian of the Library of Alexandria and Blue Whale researchers help us measure just about anything? To find out the answers to these questions (and learn how a Nobel prize wining physicist used piano tuners to improve the…
How Hewlett Packard ruined Ghostbusters for me
I like silly I love films. I’m quite happy to suspend disbelief for a couple of hours and watch something silly. That’s how I found myself sat in the cinema with my kids last week waiting to watch the remake of Ghostbusters. I was in a good mood until this advert for Hewlett Packard Enterprise appeared…
Are you deliberately breaking your KPIs?
We value your feedback… I’ve noticed an interesting trend when shopping: A practised extra tip or helpful comment by the sales assistant, shortly followed by a slip of paper being passed to you with a web link for leaving feedback. A sales person explaining that you will get a follow-up customer satisfaction survey and confiding that…
How to get started with KPIs, even if you have been putting it off for years
A confession I know how hard it can be to get started with KPIs. Here’s my confession. As a small business specialising in KPIs I measured shockingly little for the first few years. Having stalled but then later realised the the benefits of my own approach, I think I have insight into some of the reasons behind…
Choosing KPIs the right way
Choosing your KPIs the RIGHT way I used to be a bit of KPI purist. I would argue that you must build your KPI selection from ‘scratch’ as your KPIs must reflect your strategic objectives and you should never ‘borrow’ another organisation’s strategic objectives. Having spent a lot of time actually creating KPIs for organisations…
Challenging Jargon: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity
Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University, had a theory. In the spring/summer 1996 he tested that theory with an article he had submitted to Social Text, an academic journal of postmodern cultural studies. The article was “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity”. In that article he theorised that quantum…
Accurate KPIs, Van Halen and brown sweets.
How do you know if you are looking at accurate KPIs, reports or dashboards? Perhaps we can learn a lesson from rock legends Van Halen. A copy of their 1982 tour rider makes for interesting reading. It’s 53 pages long and contains some very specific requirements, including: Two dozen English muffins Six bars of soap Six…
Report Engagement, 10 essential lessons from spam email
I hate spam, so I am reading a book on marketing emails (Email Marketing Rules: A Step by Step Guide to the Best Practices that Power Marketing Success by Chad White) to figure out how to create engaging emails that people actually want to read and open. Reading the list I realised these rules hold…