What to measure when everyone looks busy

A company that feels busy and reads flat at the end of the quarter is not mysterious. Effort is being spent somewhere that nobody is counting.

Pick three numbers, not thirty

One promise about time: how often did we do it when we said we would. One about quality: how often did it come back. One about money: what did it cost to do, this week, compared with last. Everything else is context.

Count them weekly

Monthly is too slow to change anything and daily is noise. A week is short enough to remember what happened and long enough to mean something.

Read them out loud

A number on a dashboard is decoration. A number said out loud in a room, by the person who owns it, with everyone else listening, is a fact. Fifteen minutes, standing up, same time every week.

Expect the first month to be embarrassing

The first honest count is always worse than the story people have been telling. That is not a reason to stop counting; it is the reason to start. Nobody in our experience has ever fixed a number they were not willing to say aloud.