Bernie

How to get started with KPIs, even if you have been putting it off for years

By Bernie | July 14, 2016

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…

Small Large Comparison Fish Too Small Goldfish Fishbowl. Envy can drive poor KPI choices

Choosing KPIs the right way

By Bernie | May 4, 2016

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 does not have to be embarassing

Challenging Jargon: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity

By Bernie | April 19, 2016

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 and a bowlful of M and Ms have more in common than you might think

Accurate KPIs, Van Halen and brown sweets.

By Bernie | April 1, 2016

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…

Tin of spam. Holds the key to report engagement

Report Engagement, 10 essential lessons from spam email

By Bernie | March 25, 2016

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…

calculus made easy - explaining complex things simply

Explaining complex things simply: Wise words from Silvanus P Thompson

By Bernie | January 14, 2015

A good friend of mine showed me his treasured copy of ‘Calculus Made Easy’ by Silvanus P Thompson, first published in 1910. Here’s the front cover…   First published in 1910, here are some wise words on explaining complex things simply from Silvanus… CONSIDERING how many fools can calculate, it is surprising that it should…

Contradictory KPIs. When KPIs should agree, but don’t

By Bernie | January 7, 2015

Contradictory KPIs are a common problem and can rapidly undermine management confidence in the KPI system. Even someone who knows nothing about measurement knows that if you look at, say, a figure for widget production in July 2007, then you would expect any other figures for widget production in July 2007 to be the same,…

Common KPI Problems – Stranded Data

By Bernie | December 15, 2014

There are lots of practical data problems you are likely to come across when implementing KPIs and measures. I’ve identified five of the most common ones. The first of this series is  ‘Stranded data’ or data living in small pools throughout your organisation. This issue is fairly simple to spot but probably the toughest of…

Getting KPI Buy-In

By Bernie | December 10, 2014

Using the phrase `KPI buy-in’ is probably putting it a bit strongly. For many KPI implementations the best you’re looking for initially is the absence of resistance and compliance in terms of gathering information. Proper buy-in normally only comes after people start to see real value coming from the data. There are a few situations,…

cheat sheet OEE KPI

KPI Cheat Sheet – Making KPIs and Measures Easy to Understand

By Bernie | November 28, 2014

Most KPIs are really badly documented, if they are documented at all No matter which industry, I find three things are consistently true of KPIs KPIs and measures are not fully understood by all of those using them KPIs and measures are poorly documented The documentation that does exist is almost unreadable Performance measurement and…