Metrics_ How to Improve Key Business Results - Martin Klubeck [17]
The discussion I’ve had many times with clients often goes like the following dialog (in which I’m the metrics designer):
Director: “I’d like to know if our service desk is responsive to our customers.”
The first clue that the metrics designer has to dig deeper for the real root question is that the answer to the given question could be yes or no.
Metrics Designer: “What do you mean by responsive?”
Director: “Are we answering calls in a timely manner?”
Metrics Designer: “What exactly is a ‘timely manner’? Do you mean how many seconds it takes or how many times the phone rings?”
Director: “I guess within the first three rings?”
The designer made a note—that the director guessed calls should be answered within three rings, but that end users had to provide the actual answer.
Metrics Designer: “Okay. Why do we need to know this? What’s driving the curiosity?”
Director: “I’ve had some complaints that we aren’t picking up the phone quickly enough. Customers say they can’t reach us or they have to wait too long to get to speak to a person.”
Metrics Designer: “What constitutes ‘not quick enough’? Or, what is a wait that is ‘too long’?”
Director: “I don’t know.”
The designer made some more notes. The director was willing to admit that he didn’t know what the customer meant by “quick enough” and that he didn’t know what would please the customer. This admission was helpful.
Metrics Designer: “I suggest we ask some of your customers to determine these parameters. This will help us determine expectations and acceptable ranges. But we also need to know what you want to know. Why do you want to know how responsive the service desk is?”
Director: “Well, the service desk is the face of our organization—when most customers say ‘Emerald City Services’ they think of the service desk.”
Metrics Designer: “So, what do you want to know about the face of your organization?”
Director: “How well it’s received by our customers. I want to know if it’s putting forth a good image.”
This is a much better starting point for our metric design. With the root question (How well is the service desk representing Emerald Services?) we can decide on a more meaningful picture—a picture that encompasses everything that goes into answering the question.
There are other possible results of our inquisition. Of course, we shouldn’t think of it as an interrogation. That would not only give the director the wrong impression and it would also lead us to ask the wrong questions. No, our job is to reach the root question. We have to help our clients determine what their real underlying needs are and what they need or want to know. One tool for doing so is the Five Whys.
The Five Whys is simple in its concept. You ask “why” five times, until the client can no longer answer with a deeper need. Of course, you can’t ask “why” repeatedly like a child being told they can’t play in the rain. You have to ask it in a mature manner. Many times you don’t actually use the word, “why.” As in the earlier example, sometimes you ask using other terms—like “what” and “how” and “what if?”
The process isn’t so predicated on the use of the word “why” as it is grounded in attempting to reach the root purpose or need. Perhaps the worst error is to jump happily at the first “why” in which you feel some confidence that you could answer. We are all problem solvers by nature, and the possibility of latching onto a question with which we can easily provide an answer is very tempting.
Let’s look at another example, this one illustrating how the Five Whys can help us get to the root question.
Director: “I’d like to know if our service desk is responsive to our customers.”
Metrics Designer: “What do you mean by responsive?”
Director: “Are we answering calls in a timely manner?”
Metrics Designer: “Why do we need to know this? What’s driving the curiosity?”
Director: “My boss is demanding metrics, and I understand from the service desk that this information is readily available from our Trouble Call System.”
Metrics Designer: