September 2026
February 2026
- Feb 27, 2026ConceptsMeasuring Success: Metrics vs KPIs in OrganizationsGoodhart never said metrics are bad. He said a measure used as a target ceases to be a good measure, and that distinction between a metric that informs and a target that carries consequences is the conceptual hinge. Google Flu Trends shows the cost of missing it: search volume was a defensible proxy for flu prevalence until media-driven searching broke the link, and the system kept reporting confidently. Covers vanity metrics, proxies, validity and reliability.
- Feb 10, 2026ConceptsHow Goodhart's Law Breaks MetricsGoodhart's 1975 observation that a statistical regularity collapses once it is used for control explains teaching to the test, surgeons avoiding high-risk patients, and Compstat crime reclassification. Wells Fargo's cross-selling target produced about 3.5 million potentially unauthorized accounts in the bank's expanded review, $185 million in 2016 fines and a $3 billion settlement in 2020. Also: detection signs and eight harder-to-game metric designs.
- Feb 8, 2026ConceptsKPIs Explained Without BuzzwordsAll KPIs are metrics, but very few metrics are KPIs. Drucker's line that what gets measured gets managed has a corollary: measure everything and you manage nothing well. The 3-7 rule per strategic goal exists because nobody holds more than about seven items in working memory, so if you cannot recall your KPIs without looking them up, you have too many. Leading against lagging indicators, and why counting meetings or lines of code measures activity rather than outcome.
- Feb 6, 2026ConceptsVanity Metrics vs Meaningful MetricsEric Ries defined vanity metrics as numbers that feel good without helping you understand your situation. A startup reporting 100,000 downloads avoids saying 90% never opened the app and 200 people pay. The actionability test is one question: if this metric moves, what do you do differently? Page views up 30% gives no answer; conversion rate down 15% sends you into the funnel. Why they survive, and why context decides.
- Feb 6, 2026ConceptsQuantitative vs Qualitative MetricsThe sharpest illustration is Kalev, Dobbin, and Kelly's study of 708 companies over 31 years: the quantitative data showed diversity training and grievance procedures moved managerial diversity almost not at all while mentoring and task forces did, and the organizational case studies explained why, because programs that generated paperwork without changing decision-making were gamed. Both methods were needed to see it.
- Feb 5, 2026ConceptsWhy Measurement Changes BehaviorMeasurement is an intervention, not neutral observation. The article works through four mechanisms (attention, accountability, feedback, signaling) and the laws formalizing them: Goodhart's observation that targeting a monetary aggregate broke its relationship with inflation, and Campbell's Law on corruption pressure. Wells Fargo rewarding products per customer produced roughly 3.5 million fraudulent accounts while the goal itself was undermined.
- Feb 5, 2026ConceptsWhat Should Be Measured and WhyA metric deserves tracking only if it aligns with a real goal, is actionable, can be collected reliably, either predicts or measures an outcome, and is not redundant. The article separates outcomes from outputs and drivers, caps each goal at three to seven metrics, and reframes selection through Hubbard's point that a measurement is worth making when the uncertainty it removes is worth more than its cost.
October 2025
September 2025
August 2025
July 2025
- Jul 18, 2025ExplainersMetrics and Measurement: Importance in PerformanceWorkers allowed to develop local practices away from supervisory view outperformed those under continuous watch, because observation suppressed the experimentation that produced the best results. Landsberger's reanalysis of the original Hawthorne data points the same way: productivity rose from positive feedback and human attention, not from being monitored. The mechanism is social. This page covers leading versus lagging indicators, vanity metrics and gaming.
- Jul 15, 2025ExplainersMetrics That Destroyed Performance: Case StudiesGoodhart's Law and Campbell's Law play out with near-mechanical predictability here. Wells Fargo's eight-products-per-customer target produced roughly 2 million fake accounts, later revised upward, and $3 billion in fines; NHS hospitals held patients in ambulances so the four-hour clock would not start. Ravitch found high-stakes testing states gaining 22 percentage points on their own tests but only 7 on NAEP, which they did not control.
- Jul 10, 2025ExplainersMetrics Design ChecklistA cross-selling target of eight products per customer was well intentioned, easy to count and catastrophic: Wells Fargo paid $185 million in 2016, later growing past $3 billion. The checklist works through 16 checks in four phases, from goal alignment and a gaming pre-mortem to leading indicators and a retirement process. Flyvbjerg's 258 transport projects across 20 nations make the case: nine in ten overran, by roughly 20 percent on roads and 45 percent on rail.
June 2025
- Jun 19, 2025ExplainersThe Evolution of Metrics in Science and ManagementThe earliest writing systems, developed in Mesopotamia around 3400 BCE, were accounting records rather than literary documents: clay tablets from Uruk logging grain, livestock and labor. Luca Pacioli formalized double-entry bookkeeping in 1494, imposing mathematical discipline on economic activity. The culture of quantification has a specific history with identifiable choices behind it, running through statistics, scientific management, and Goodhart's law.
- Jun 16, 2025ExplainersStep-by-Step: Designing Effective MetricsMetrics shape behavior whether or not they measure the right thing, so gaming follows wherever stakes are attached. A Department of Justice investigation found Baltimore officers downgrading shootings and pressuring victims to withdraw reports under CompStat. Payment can also crowd out motive: Swiss communities offered compensation for a nuclear waste site accepted it at 25%, down from 51% with no money offered.
January 2025
December 2023
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