Metrics_ How to Improve Key Business Results - Martin Klubeck [11]
Figure 1-6 shows another view of the components that make up a metric. It’s fitting that it looks like an organic structure.
Figure 1-6. Metric components
Without a good root question, the answers that you derive may lead you in the wrong direction. Answers are only useful when you know the question. The root question is so integral to the metric that it has to be part of the definition of a metric.
A metric tells a complete story using data, measures, information, and other metrics to answer a root question.
The root question is essentially the most important component of a metric. It is the map we use to help determine our direction. It identifies the goal of our journey. There are instances where you may, with good reason and to good result, collect data without a root question (see Chapter 15), but for the practical use of metrics, this is unacceptable. It would be like taking off on a journey without a destination in mind. No purpose, no plan, and no direction—just get in your car and start driving.
Later you may realize that you forgot your driver’s license, your money, and even your shoes. You may realize that you’d already traveled too far to make it back with the amount of fuel remaining in your tank. You may realize that the only logical course of action is to continue on, although you don’t know where you will end up. You are more likely to end up where you don’t want to be. Since the only right place would be the destination that you forgot to determine, it is much more likely that you will end up someplace other than that right place. And, when you fail to reach the destination (which in the end you may or may not have identified), you will blame the car. It didn’t get enough miles to the gallon.
You won’t blame the lack of forethought. Even if you get more gas and you figure out where you want to go, you’ll not go back home for your wallet, license, or shoes. You’ve invested too much. Instead, you’ll continue on and try to reach the destination from where you are, not wanting to admit that everything you’d done to that point was wasted effort.
You need the purpose of the metric, the root question, so that you are as efficient as possible with your resources (the car, fuel, time, and your efforts). Of course, if you have unlimited resources or you make money regardless of how you use the resources (perhaps you have a wealthy passenger who is only concerned with being shuttled around, not caring about the destination, purpose, or how long it takes to get there), then efficiency doesn’t matter. But if you’re like most of us and need to make the most of what you have, embarking on this meandering journey is more than wasteful. It actually will end up costing much more than the expenses incurred.
The lack of direction will seed a level of despair and resentment in you and your coworkers, your superiors, and subordinates. It can destroy the spirit of your organization.
The root question provides you with focus and direction. You know where you are headed. You know the destination. You know the purpose of the metrics and the question you are trying to answer.
A root question, a correctly worded and fully thought-out question, allows you to determine the right answer(s). Without a root question—the right question—the answer you derive will be the result of a meandering journey. This answer will likely do more harm than good.
Even a well-worded root question will fail to lead to good results if the question is not the right question.
To put it all together, let’s look at a full example. A metric is a complete story told through representation of information. Information in turn, is a compilation of measures, used to convey meaning. Measures are the results built from data, the lowest level of collectable components