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“Yes, but every time I turn around, I run into people who need help with metrics,” I answered.

“Why a book?” She was good at The Five Whys.

“It gives me a tool to help teach others. I can tell them to read the book and I’ll be able to reference it.”

“So, you want to help others with designing metrics. That’s admirable. What else will you need to do?”

And that started me on a brainstorming journey. I captured ideas from presenting speeches, teaching seminars and webinars, to writing articles and proposing curriculum for colleges. I ended up with a larger list of things to accomplish than just a book. I also got to the root need and that helped me focus on why I wanted to write the book. That helps a lot when I feel a little burned out or exhausted. It helps me to persevere when things aren’t going smoothly. It helps me think about measuring success, not based on finishing the book (although that’s a sub-measure I plan on celebrating) but on the overall goal of helping others develop solid and useful metrics programs.

Once you think you have the root question, chances are you’ll need to edit it a little. I’m not suggesting that you spend hours making it “sound” right. It’s not going to be framed and put over the entrance. No, I mean that you have to edit it for clarity. It has to be exact. The meaning has to be clear. As you’ll see shortly, you’ll test the question to ensure it is a root—but beforehand it will help immensely if you’ve defined every component of the question to ensure clarity.

Define the terms—even the ones that are obvious. Clarity is paramount.

Keep in mind, most root questions are very short, so it shouldn’t take too much effort to clearly define each word in the question.

As with many things, an example may be simpler. Based on the conversation on why I wanted to write this book, let’s assume a possible root question is: How effective is this book at helping readers design metrics? You can ensure clarity by defining the words in the question.

How effective is this book at helping readers design metrics? What do we mean by effective? In this case, since it’s my goal, I’ll do the definitions. How well does it work? Does it really help readers?

What do I mean by “how effective?” The how portion means which parts of the book are helpful? Which parts aren’t? Also, does it enable someone to develop high-quality metrics? After all, my goal is to make this book a practical tool and guide for developing a metrics program.

How effective is this book at helping readers design metrics? This may seem obvious, and in this case it is. But, you should still check. There may be a greater need for a definition if I had instead asked, “How effective is my system for designing metrics?”

Even obvious definitions, like this one—may lead you to modify the question. If asked, “What do you mean by this book?” I might very well answer, “Oh, actually I want to know if the system is effective, of which the book is the vehicle for sharing.” This would lead us to realize that I really wanted to know if my system worked for others—more so than if this form of communication was effective.

How effective is this book at helping readers design metrics? Does it help? I have to define if “help” means Can the reader develop metrics after reading it?

Is the reader better at developing metrics after reading it?

Does the reader avoid the mistakes I preach against?

Readers are another obvious component—but we could do some more clarification. Does “reader” mean someone who reads the “whole” book or someone who reads any part of the book?

Is the reader based on the target audience?

How effective is this book at helping readers design metrics? What do I mean by “design”? As you have read, for me designing a metric involves a lot more than the final metric. It includes identifying the root need and then ensuring a metric is the proper way to answer it. So, while “design” may mean development, it has to be taken in the context of the