Ideally, someone other than you should be objectively measuring and reporting on your progress. If you're not hitting your targets, that's another problem that needs to be diagnosed and solved. There are many successful, creative people who aren't good at execution. They succeed because they forge symbiotic relationships with highly reliable task-doers. That's all there is to it! Remember that all 5 Steps proceed from your values. Your values determine what you want, i.e., your goals. Also keep in mind that the 5 Steps are iterative. When you complete one step, you will have acquired information that will most likely lead you to modify the other steps. When you've completed all five, you'll start again with a new goal. If the process is working, your goals will change more slowly than your designs, which will change more slowly than your tasks. One last important point: You will need to synthesize and shape well. The first three steps--setting goals, identifying problems, and then diagnosing them--are synthesizing (by which I mean knowing where you want to go and what's really going on). Designing solutions and making sure that the designs are implemented are shaping. #principleoftheday
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For good or bad, metrics narrow focus and redirect attention. Metrics are best used when they are not turned into targets associated with performance reviews. People will hit their targets whether or not the organization benefits.
The KEY word in this is "objectively". Many superiors do not see or know what work is done by the employees they "manage". In order to evaluate, they should first know what & how much work they are actually doing.
If I may add also sharing it with your team so they can understand your vision and time-line.
Couldn't agree more. KPIs are a focus guide so the team does not get distracted by opinions that shouldn't matter.
No metrics = no accountability.
This post comes from a certain culture of productivity that lots of us do not share. That's the most charitable thing I can say about it. From the point of view of the creative, knowledge culture I'm embedded in, the idea of reducing progress to numbers is anathema. It feels like something a child or sick person would suggest. This is a bad idea, not just because progress and quality are multi-dimensional and ephemeral relationships among people and things. But because progress along a plan is something we assess, rather than measure. And that assessment is a complex process of exploration and growth. And because the plan is constantly changing-- for the good. From the point of view of someone in metrics culture, this sounds like new age goo. From my point of view it's about confronting the reality of the situation, instead of ignoring most of reality and turning the process into some sort of board game called "Success!" From within my culture, I want to say "grow up!" because people in metrics culture seem like children building sand castles and pretending they are real.
Love the point about values guiding your goals. What matters most to you? Once you know that, setting goals and tracking progress becomes a lot clearer. And this whole "iterative process" thing – totally! You learn and adapt as you go. Your initial plan might need tweaks along the way, that's okay! The key is to keep moving forward and learning from your mistakes.
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