Jun 6, 2018
Measure TWICE!
It’s a life lesson pertinent to more than home repair
by Mark Long, director of incubation services at the University of Florida
My dad taught me quite a bit when I was younger, especially about construction and car repair. His lessons usually started off with, “Son, watch me do this and then you do it, and learn it; it will save you a buck or two one day.” And he was usually right about all of that — watching, doing and saving.
One lesson in particular is very clear to me, even today, nearly 50 years later. We were cutting up 2″ x 4″ boards to put up a framing wall. All of the “studs” in the framing wall had to be exactly (well, close to exactly) 95 3/4″ tall. I was pretty cocksure that I knew what I was doing, so I took the first board, laid it across the sawhorses, and cut it, exactly 95 3/4″.
Except it wasn’t exactly 95 3/4″. It wasn’t even close; it was nearly 4″ off. In my “haste” to make cuts, I had cut rapidly and evenly — and way too short! Dad laid that one aside for scrap, smiled at me, and said, “Son, always measure TWICE and then cut ONCE — so you don’t make mistakes!” From then on I took great pains to ensure every cut was well-measured and calculated, to avoid mistakes and waste. In addition, Dad made sure I had a good, reliable tape measure, and he showed me how to use it.
My dad’s lesson is what today’s blog post is all about: measurement. We’ve looked at goal performance management these past weeks, elaborating on “focus, measurement and motivation.” Today’s theme is measurement.
Calculating progress is not always easy. It may be difficult to see actual progress, and if we don’t carefully measure our steps toward achieving goals, we may never achieve them. However, we have to know what to measure, how to measure it, and how often to measure.
I go back to the basic principle I learned from Dad: Know WHAT you need to measure; have a good measurement tool; and “measure twice, cut once.” It applies to achieving goals. I believe in not only having goals, but having measurable goals.
When I was teaching, I used to encourage my students to specify NUMBERS for achievement on their resumes.
“Don’t just list ‘Performed several quality studies during my internship’,” I would tell them. “State it as, ‘Completed over 12 quality studies in a 3-month period as an intern, resulting in a cost savings of over $1mm.’”
(The form of that statement, by the way, is called a “features-benefit” statement. It tells what you did, the fact or measurement, then why it made a difference or the answer to someone’s “so what?” question.) Now THAT statement says something to me, as a future employer; it tells me you “get results that matter.”
The difference is this: measurements indicate progress.
Let’s get back to incubation. What do you need to measure to calculate progress or success? Most individuals would say, “It’s the jobs, stupid!”– and it may be. But it’s actually much more than the number of jobs generated by the companies you’ve served.
For instance, consider the total number of companies you have served versus the number still in business five years post-graduation. Or consider how much capital all your companies brought into the area (money that would not have come into your area were it not for those companies in your program). How many startups did you attract to your program from outside your immediate service area?
All of these items are important to measure. So how often should you measure them?
Typically, I try to measure at least twice per year (you know — measure twice, publish once) to ensure my information is accurate. How do I measure these achievements? I issue online surveys, I email firms, I call CEOs, I ask for help from the entrepreneurial community, and I enlist staff or interns to follow up for further information. I keep everything in ONE DATABASE, so it’s accurate and visible to everyone.
It pays to “measure things that matter” — particularly in incubation. Understand what your community wants and needs, use a good measurement, and let everyone know your progress.
Originally published at incubatorblogger.wordpress.com on June 6, 2018.
Mark S. Long directs two incubators at the University of Florida, The Hub and Sid Martin Biotech. Both incubators are part of UF Innovate, which builds business on innovation by providing an ecosystem that encourages and supports inventors and entrepreneurs. While you won’t see Mark out with a tape measure on most days, you can know he is measuring the very things he suggests you measure. Of course, since he has two incubators to run, he measures twice twice! (See what we did there?) Follow Mark here or at his incubatorblogger.wordpress.com site.
