Best Practices in Planning and Performance Management: Radically Rethinking Management for a Volatile World, Third Edition

Chapter 11. Implementing Best Practices

	People never improve unless they look to some standard or example higher and better than themselves.
	--Tryon Edwards

Measurement alone changes nothing; however, it is almost impossible to track progress toward some objective without a basis for comparison. Our environment is constantly being measured, and the number of measures we consume on a daily basis keeps growing. As I write this, I am sitting on a Boeing 767 traveling from Houston to Honolulu to start a vacation with my wife and two children. The video monitor in front of me is bombarding me with measurements. We are flying at 31,000 feet; traveling at 506 miles per hour; have 1,788 miles to travel. In addition, the local time is 11:28 AM, the time at our destination is 10:28 AM, and we are expected to arrive at 2:18 PM rather than the scheduled arrival time of 2:10 PM. Before booking the flight, I was able to compare flight schedules and prices for multiple different airlines, review the on-time arrival statistics for each flight option, and even look up the safety record for each type of aircraft. Which of these metrics matter?

It depends on the type of decision you are trying to make or problem you are trying to solve. For me it is our arrival time in Honolulu, since my vacation won't really start until the first cocktail at Waikiki as soon after 2:18 PM as possible.

GETTING STARTED

All changes start with some form of trigger. Triggering events can be of many types, from a major process ...