With economies struggling, industries transforming, our customer bases shrinking and the federal government bailing out what seems to be everyone but the people, there is no more critical time for good data than now. This blog is focused on helping clients jump start their core business to make better decisions for their organization.
As another year begins I still hear the same questions and see many of the same behaviors. All too often we start addressing a problem or a symptom of a problem with a different understanding of the situation. Our view points differ by terminology, the definitions behind the terminology, our background on the situation or the underlying assumptions. Many times we start addressing an issue without being on the same page or having the same baseline understanding of the situation.
Where do we begin? Many organizations are busy tightening their bottom line as many of their customers are spending less because of the economy. Many organization’s are faced with the challenge of what products to keep, which to outsource, which to discontinue, which people to keep, which people should go where, and what processes can become more efficient to save money. It has never been more important for organizations to do this type of analysis than now. Although this should be an ongoing exercise, it is a new one for many organizations as there is a dire need for good data to make these critical business decisions. Where do we start?
Start small. Whether the organization is trying to gather a metric to answer a business question, trying to implement a metrics framework or working to measure a deliverable to show value, it is important to start small. A limited scope in the beginning will keep focus and keep the program in an achievable state. Avoid the temptation to expand until after the initial phase has been established. In many instances, it is more productive to finish 1 task in 5 than it is to do 20% of each of the 5 tasks.
Avoid the temptation to expand the metric, framework or deliverable if your data can not easily be obtained. What are you going to do if the data is not available? A decision to a business problem still needs to be made. Are you going to throw out your framework? Add to the deliverables with the data that is available? Pound qualitative data into a quantitative hole? No, focus on what you are trying to achieve. Focus on what has been defined to answer these business questions related to value as it relates to your function. Is the framework aligned to the organization’s goals? Does the metric answer the question on whether or not a goal is being met or the deliverable has value. It must! Why do it if it isn’t? Many times individuals (including managers) perform data collection activities or define metrics without realizing or knowing if their activities align to a goal or provide actual value to their core business.
There will be times when you are asked to deliver data that is not available or it is a “nice to have” data point. If this happens, I would recommend communicating to the stakeholders that the data does not appear to be available and the effort should be focused on implementing a collection method to get the required data. Do not deliver data that has been poorly defined or collected or does not answer the question. This type of data will provide little to no value and only expose you to questions and credibility issues.
Stay focused and do not become side tracked in the “nice to haves”. For those instances, set the expectations that the “nice to have” data or activities need to go through the stakeholders to justify the value to the business.
Start small and stay focused.
Chaz says:
Hi Jeremy, I’m glad you finally started to publish this information. I’ve sent this to all my managers to begin reading on a weekly basis. We look forward to the progression. Many times we get caught up in gathering as much data as we can and we lose sight of what we are trying to achieve. I know I can overwhelm my staff and focus becomes an issue. I certainly think focusing on results is key. But what really drove this point was the comment on trying to push qualitative data into a quantitative perspective. Many times qualitative information is disparate and has no common definition. Business’s then attempt to normalize the information to a quantitative state to make business decisions. This scenario happens in many organization’s and it is a practice that should be avoided. Thanks for the insight! Chaz
January 26, 2009, 10:09 PMLVDesertHeat says:
A smart man, who has long departed the shores of Frisco to the bright lights of K Town LA, once said if you cannot determine the goal units or identify the process used to develop them, then developing measures/metrics are useless.
As stated too many large organizations develop metrics for the sake of developing metrics. What they don’t realize is that data/metrics/measures should be a byproduct of their processes. The same processes used to produce their goal units. Metrics that are linked to strategic points within a process can be control points that can be analyzed and adjusted to increase productivity, utilization, capacity and decrease costs in order to meet organizational goals. Metrics that are not linked to process are just data points that don’t provide any opportunity for management actions. Metrics should not only be a part of decision support but it also should be an integral part of the continuous improvement feedback loop. I’ll get off of my soap box now. But I’ll be back to discuss metrics framework, the “tops down” approach.
January 27, 2009, 12:38 AM