It was the middle of the night, looking after my newborn daughter when I first realised that we had become obsessed with metrics and key performance indicators:
- How many times has she fed?
- When was the last feed, was it within 4 hours?
- How many nappies, what type of nappy and the average per day?
- The list goes on.
On realising this, I looked around at all the other metrics I used in daily life.
- How full is the kettle?
- How much energy have we used? Is it more than last week, month, year?
- How much fuel is in the car? How long did it last? And how many miles did I do?
- How much is in the bank?
The list keeps going on and on.
We use metrics to help us monitor and manage all aspects of our life. Yet, when it comes to business there is a wide variation in the use of metrics, from the business who don’t track anything to the business that have so much data captured they can’t analyse it. Metrics should be used in every business to help measure and monitor its performance. The information metrics can provide helps businesses review, change and improve their processes.
Tell me what you think in the comments below or on X @timdixon82
