Planning and Designing Effective Metrics

CHAPTER6

Establishing Standards and Benchmarks

Standards and benchmarks, in the realm of metrics, are strongly interconnected. Standards, from the Industrial Age through today, are invaluable for providing a means for interoperability. Standards in the industrial world allow you to use a light bulb that you bought at Walmart in a lamp that you bought at a high-end designer furniture store. Standards allow you to get gas for your car from any station in the United States, without worrying if the gas pump nozzle will fit into your gas tank. From the ingredients label on a can of soup to the technology that allows you to tune your radio, standards give consistency and interoperability for manufacturers, distributors, builders, and customers alike. ...