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What gets measured gets manipulated
“[A] statistical metric may be a pretty decent proxy for something that really matters, but it is almost always a proxy rather than the real thing. Once you start using that proxy as a target to be improved, or a metric to control others at a distance, it will be distorted, faked, or undermined. The value of the measure will evaporate.”
— The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics by Tim Harford
I’ve heard this boiled down to “what gets measured gets manipulated”, as a counterpoint to “what gets measured gets managed”, attributed to Peter Drucker.
Whether you’re an individual Designer or Developer, or you manage teams, this is a solid reminder to question how we measure our teams, why we measure a particular metric, and the outcomes we aim to drive.
Keep the outcomes you want to drive in mind, regularly validate the utility of your metrics and question how people might game those measurements, intentionally or not.
