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Make Metrics Matter
How data professionals can increase the impact of their strongest asset
Artificial intelligence, data science and analytics: these functions or data products tend to get the most airtime and attention when we think about whether our organisation is data-driven. A focus on sophistication and maturity goes hand-in-hand with assessing the newest technologies and approaches. As is the case in other disciplines and industries we can overlook the workhorses that are always there and used by many instead of the chosen few.
When I speak to companies about “data culture” I ask about their reporting and business intelligence first. This is not because I don’t think analytics or modelling teams are important. It is because culture goes much deeper than job titles, formal teams, or expensive projects, and into the DNA of how every single employee thinks about and uses data. The reports we rely on and the metrics we monitor are the lions share of the “data-driven decision making” in our organisation. The pipelines and sources of truth that make up our business and operational foundations are how data really flows through the company. If we don’t understand that the rest is just noise.
Rather than being distracted by the latest algorithm or the shiniest tool, our data teams have the opportunity to really amplify the effectiveness of data in their organisation if they focus first on making the core metrics matter.
To do this, two things are vital:
- Understand the limitations of metrics
- Pay attention to the behaviour of people.
What gets measured gets managed
This is one of the most famous quotes in business literature and, as with anything that garners too much fame, one of the most scrutinised.
Strategy thought leader Roger Martin wrote an article on this and other popular quotes where he highlights how much we tend to blindly follow the wisdom of quotes even when we don’t know who said them or in what context.
I like a snappy quote to land a message as much as the next person but what I find interesting about this one, in particular, is the fact that some sources show extended versions of the quote that…
