Some thoughts on measurement

I have often told my clients that whilst it is crucial to measure the things you want to change, you also need to be careful what you measure (and how you measure it.)  Think about the experience in the National Health Service, it is an object lesson of how not to do it.  They decided to improve efficiency by introducing professional managers and measurement systems.  Years later we find that people are being discharged prematurely to ensure that the turnover numbers meet target. 

Regular readers will know that know that I set myself a target of losing weight and getting in better shape (literally).  I found a key tool was using data to track what I was eating; my daughter suggested I try My Fitness Pal, which I found very helpful.  I had been a rather unaware of the calorific content of some of my eating habits.  It also allows you to track exercise, which was another strand of my regimen.  I found myself making better decisions because I knew the consequences of my choices, and the fact that I was recording what I was doing kept me on track.

I bought a Samsung Note 4 before Xmas that has a fitness monitor built in that measure the steps you take amongst other things, and I also found that both motivated and slightly shamed me.  It was more data but it didn’t talk to my other data sets, so recently I invested in a fitness tracker.  I have tried both the Misfit Flash and the Jawbone Move (which I will probably review a little later).  They are relatively basic as these things go now, but I felt this was all I required at present.  They do feed into My Fitness Pal and now I have one dashboard of my goals and progress. 

It is true that there are many things I am not measuring, like perhaps the my investment in terms of both time and money (although I could if I wanted), but these things are not crucial in my life.  You will make progress in the areas that you attend to and this whole process is part of keeping my goals in the front of my mind so I am less likely to be diverted.  If you are embarking on a Change project, you need to monitor and review the key factors, discuss them and you will make progress

This entry was posted on Monday, March 9th, 2015 at 08:00 and is filed under Business Change, Hints, Tips & Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.