Ross Rondeau

Why I Built This: Naming the Number

Most plans I review have plenty of numbers and very few measures. A team tracks calls made, tickets closed, and hours logged, then calls the whole set its KPIs. In On Measures, Metrics, KPIs, and OKRs I walked through the difference using one example, a drive to Point B. Average speed tells you the car is moving. It does not tell you the car is getting closer. This page asks the same questions I asked in that article, about your own statement, and tells you which piece of the chain is missing.

How It Works

Type a statement, or pick one of the worked examples. The page reads the sentence and suggests answers to a short set of questions. Every suggestion is marked as a suggestion, and one click overrides it. The reading looks at words, not relationships. Whether a number rises as you get closer to the goal is something only you can answer, so the questions decide the verdict. The reading only gives you a head start.

The Definitions It Uses

1. Measure: A raw number or observation at a point in time. Sixty miles per hour is a measure.
2. Metric: A measure with context, such as a baseline, a comparison, or a rate. Sixty miles per hour against a ten-hour plan is a metric.
3. Performance measure (MOP): Tracks activity or output, the answer to "what are they doing?" It can climb while you head the wrong way.
4. Effectiveness measure (MOE): Rises as you get closer to the goal, has a clear ideal result, and can be compared against similar outcomes.
5. Indicator: An event that shows an effect is happening, such as passing the halfway checkpoint.
6. KPI: A single effectiveness measure tied to a named business outcome, supported by a few performance measures, with its assumptions written down and a review of how it could be gamed.
7. Key result: Written as "Desired outcome: target - action," tied to a KPI, with a line naming where it is measured.
8. Objective: Qualitative, ambitious, and durable across years, with at least one effectiveness measure assigned.
9. Strategy: Unique, systematic, stated as objectives and outcomes, and measured by effectiveness rather than activity. On Strategy covers this in depth.

One correction to my own article: a KPI takes a single effectiveness measure. If a key result carries two, the page asks you to pick one.

Where the Rules Come From

Every check on this page cites a source. The definitions above come from my newsletter articles, from Appendix E of the National Academies report on measures of performance and effectiveness, and from AcqNotes on measures of effectiveness, which also lists the five elements every measure needs: a short title, a definition, a unit, a benchmark, and a formula. The warnings about gaming come from CNA's report on Goodhart's Law, and the caution about survey data comes from Qualtrics on Likert scales. If you are writing a mission or vision rather than a measure, Professional Objectives: Do you have a Mission? What about a Vision? is the better starting point.