Project Measurement: Why Do We Measure?
Article 2 of 20 in Series:
There are many everyday examples of our romance with measurement. Our desire to measure is innate to who we are as human beings – we like data. Whether we’re watching the scoreboard at a baseball game, reviewing the test scores of our children or tracking how many steps we’ve walked in a day on our Fitbit – it is clear we like to measure – and we hopefully have a bend toward improving performance based on our measures.
So why do we have a deep affinity toward measuring? No matter who’s asked – students, athletes, coaches, business leaders or project managers – the long list of reasons of why we measure can generally be divided into three categories:
1. To Monitor. To track, follow or observe. I routinely hear people say “what gets measured gets done” and “you don’t know what you don’t measure.” I find this to be true and certainly of project measurement and performance.
2. To Report. The act of presenting measures. I’ve heard many people say that measurement is all about reporting results and making comparisons. In education, the report card our kids bring home every couple weeks is a good example. In projects, this could be the monthly update the project manager provides to senior management or the report that the PMO provides to the Board every quarter.
3. To Improve. To become better. The likelihood of improving performance increases significantly when one measures. It’s hard to improve performance or to show improvement without also measuring. In sports, players and coaches measure certain activities strictly because it leads to better performance – like measuring how many times a week a baseball player is planning to go to the batting cages and then once he/she is there, how long they’re in the cage swinging and then how many balls they hit. These measured activities are designed to improve performance.
So how does all this relate back to projects and how can you improve project performance as a result?
Well, it’s my belief that most successful people, like straight-A students, star athletes and high-performing project managers, begin by tracking and monitoring their results. But they don’t stop there. They also plan and track key behaviors and activities (i.e. performance indicators) that lead to key results. This can be done either intentionally or unintentionally, but regardless, high-performing individuals and teams are not just looking at the ‘scoreboard’ for their results, they are also tracking the activities that lead to results.
Managing projects with a bend toward continuous improvement is no different. I’ve worked with successful project managers and PMOs that first start with measuring the basic project constraints – budget, schedule and scope. The highest performing of these then took the next step of measuring key activities (i.e. performance indicators) that led to significantly improved results.
Next week’s article will introduce a nuance of project measurement that may be new to many – the difference between key result indicators (KRIs) and key performance indicators (KPIs).
How Can Darby Help?
Darby has partnered with many Fortune 500 companies to plan and execute measurement initiatives that supports a ‘continuous improving’ culture by not only focusing on reporting key results, but also identifying and measuring key performance indicators that lead to improved portfolio and project performance.
About Darby Consulting
Darby Consulting is a leading North American project and change management consulting firm providing project and program management consulting, project support and change readiness services. We serve organizations across multiple industries and provide experienced, certified project and change management professionals who can quickly and efficiently deploy processes, tools, templates and technologies to meet any project challenge.
