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Metrics Madness

May 21, 2014 by Bob Emiliani

My career in industry was limited at times by my unwillingness to do as I was told. Despite that, I earned high marks and was rated as a “high potential” employee throughout my career. Here is one of the things that I had difficulty with: stupid metrics. Specifically, metrics that were so obviously wrong that they forced managers and workers to do dumb things like overproduce, sacrifice quality, or seek growth for growth’s sake.

My rule was that the metric that everyone was focused on was likely to be the metric that should be most ignored. So here is what I did:

  • As an R&D supervisor in engineering, the key metric was the spend rate relative to budget. I ignored that and focused on advancing the technology.
  • As a business unit manager in manufacturing, the key metric was earned hours. I ignored that and focused on quality (via process improvement) because our scrap rate was so high and hurting us both financially and by consistently late deliveries.
  • As a supply/commodity manager in purchasing, the key metric was purchase price variance. I ignored that and focused on quality and the assurance of supply (i.e. that we had the parts that the assembly floor needed; right quality, right quality, at the right time).
  • As a university professor, the key metric is enrollment. I ignore that and focus on improving the quality of my teaching and student learning outcomes.

I’m no genius; I was just trying to be practical and do what made sense — do the right thing. And, at times, it got me into trouble.

biggestBusinesses are often run using metrics that don’t make sense. Leaders mistakenly assume that someone before them vetted the metrics, and that the metrics currently in use are the right ones to be using. They don’t question them, nor do they question the metrics in use when they begin their Lean journey. Nearly every metric currently in use forces people to do things that are anti-Lean.

It turns out that questioning things is not something that leaders normally do or do well. So, for example, to them it makes sense to be the largest and brag about it. Who really cares about that?

Filed Under: BobEmiliani.com, Continuous Improvement, Respect for People

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kevin Meyer says

    May 21, 2014 at 8:23 am

    One of my favorite Deming quotes: “Management by a numerical goal is an attempt to manage without knowing what to do.”

  2. Andy Dobson says

    May 23, 2014 at 8:13 am

    “Businesses are often run using metrics that don’t make sense” – you mean like OEE??

    Because loads of uptime is better than get it right 1st. time!

  3. Bob Emiliani says

    May 23, 2014 at 12:03 pm

    No, I was not thinking of OEE. If used incorrectly, as a replacement for “machine utilization” or the traditional “percent up-time,” then the OEE metric would be a problem.

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