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Be assured, used improperly, metrics can seriously endanger your organization's health. Not respecting the power of metrics often results in errors in the way we use them. These errors manifest in forms of misuse.

The Good

The following misuses of metrics are classified as “good” not because they are acceptable, but simply because the perpetrator lacks malicious intent, innocently misusing a metric rather than deliberately causing damage. Sometimes this is due to arrogance and other times ignorance. In either case, a healthy dose of respect would solve this problem.

Sharing only part of the story. Remarkably, after spending time and investing effort to develop a complete story, people still mistakenly share only part of the story. This seems counterintuitive. Whenever you selectively share parts of the metric and not the whole story, you distort the message. Don't create misinformation by simply not sharing the whole story.

Not sharing the story at all. Again, why go through the effort to develop a full story only to hoard the results? Not only must you share the metrics with the customers (those who could and should use it), but you should share it with those who are providing you the data. Not all those who use the metric will be a provider of data, but all those who provide data should be users. Another way I see this manifested is reluctance to build the metric at all. It happens because of fears of what the metric will show. Most times I hear that the “data is invalid” or “we can't get the data.” Basically, these are excuses designed to kill the metric before it is ever created.

Sharing only good metrics. The most common reason for not showing all the metrics is because, in someone's opinion, something in the metrics makes someone else look bad. Of course, if you're using metrics properly, they are indicators for the purpose of improving. If you only have good results, then what do you need to improve? The reluctance to show unfavorable results misses the point of metrics. To improve, you need to know where improvement is needed. To show progress, you need to be able to show improvement. To show only “good results” is to cheat someone of the information needed to help them improve.

Sharing only bad metrics. There are times when only the negative results are shared. Purposely. For example, when a manager wants to “motivate” his staff, perhaps he may choose to make things look a little worse than they are. We won't go into the more sinister abuses of metrics—I'll leave that to your imagination. Suffice it to say, another misuse of data is to reveal only the negative results.

Showing the data. Remember the difference between data, measures, information, and metrics? Showing data (or measures) means that you distract the viewer from the story. It's like showing the used palette instead of the painting. When you show data (instead of the metric) you invite the viewers to do their own analysis and form their own stories.

You may have noticed a theme to these examples of “good” misuses of metrics. Most are born of not showing the complete story. This supports why the use of root questions and the development of a complete story is so important.

The Bad

In contrast to the innocent misuse of metrics, the “bad” describes knowledgeable misuse. You would think this would be the rare case. You would hope that those receiving metrics would not knowingly misuse them. But some don't respect the destructive power of metrics; they wield it haphazardly and end up causing serious damage. These types of misuses are as follows:

Using metrics for a personal agenda. After seeing the metrics, there are those who decide that the metrics can be used to further their own cause. And there are those who may actually task the creation of metrics for the sole purpose of fulfilling a personal agenda. These people are easy to spot. They refuse to work with you to determine the root question, either out of embarrassment over a transparent