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Metrics

All Metrics are NOT Created Equal

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Your data can show just about anything. But how do you know you’re showing the right data with the right amount of detail?

Mark Twain was fond of the saying, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”  These words are as true now as they were back in the 1890s.

Living in this information age is incredible. There’s no waiting for another team to calculate and then hand over results. You don’t have to guess anymore—you know. This independence grants you both speed and security in your decisions.

With so much data available, and a myriad of ways to analyze it, it’s ridiculously easy to create the exact metrics you need to prove any point. You need no more than Excel to produce a compelling data story.

This, of course, adds amazing value to your project. You can spot trends in an instant and use a chart to make the impact hit home with your executives. Compiling results data and using it to determine the success or failure of testing takes seconds instead of days.

  1. It’s easy to slip into a pattern of going for flash instead of substance.

I’ve seen plenty of Project Management presentations showing colorful, complex charts with lines and bars…in 3D. Super cool. But I haven’t the slightest idea the point they’re trying to make. Lots of glitter with no substance.

To combat this, constantly remind yourself who you’re presenting to. I don’t know many executives who are impressed with flash. The easier you make it for them to understand the bottom line, the more you really will impress them. So, unless you’re presenting a new advertising campaign, all your design efforts should go into honing how to easily communicate your point.

2. We can make the data say pretty much anything we want.

It’s a matter of perspective. We can make a 1% increase look big or small, depending on the overall volume. Your judgment here is critical. If you’re concerned about a 1% increase, what other data supports the larger impact? Thinking through the supporting data will do more than help present your case: it will help you determine whether the change is as relevant as you initially thought.

Your stakeholders, including your team, aren’t going to know all the data available. They are trusting you to give them the information needed to move forward. What will best support them in their role?

When you are alone at your desk, take some time to play around with the data. Ask yourself questions like these:

  • What can I use to show a mitigation is working?
  • How can I prove out our success metrics?
  • How do I show the risk vs. reward of a decision?
  • What are my sponsors’ biggest concerns, and can I validate our solution?

This broad knowledge base will do a few things for you. First, it will give you a feel for the data available, and what’s useful and not. Second, when it’s time to answer a question or make an important point, you’ve already done half the work.

Keep in mind the goal of your project, and always focus your metrics to that end. I don’t mean to show the project is amazingly successful if that’s not really the case. Your job is to cut as clear a path to your goal as you can, and that means being honest about the backslides as well as the surges forward.

Finally, don’t discard a super-cool graphic just because it is flashy. Maybe a 3D chart is exactly right to help your team understand a trend on your project. Just consider the sparkle a bonus, instead of the heart of the communication.

Metrics and Philosophy in the Board Room

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Metrics.

Done right, you can tell which projects are on track, are chewing up resources, or will put the rest of the portfolio in jeopardy.

But that’s the key: “Done Right.”

Often, project managers are asked to track all sorts of metrics…and it takes intense work to get that information collected and formatted for the executive team.

Then, six months later, there’s a new twist, or an entirely new set of metrics to gather. The PMs go crazy trying to chase that new rainbow, frustrated because their project isn’t any better or worse for the metrics they’ve already collected and presented.

What’s going on?

The executive team isn’t being flighty. They’re not trying to give their already busy managers more work.

They’re doing what they can to understand the impact of multiple forces on the success of the company.

And whatever metrics they were using just didn’t provide the answer. Or, they worked for some projects but not others.

Let’s go back to the key: “Done Right.”

It typically comes down to the goals and values of the company, as expressed by the executive team.

And I don’t mean what’s on the publicized mission statement.

I’m talking about the heart of the company. For example, is it a relentless pursuit of growth? Or a cadence of new product releases? Is it employee satisfaction and longevity with the company – or perhaps that of the client?

Even within the C-Suite there could be differing viewpoints. Marketing – IT – HR…they all naturally have a different focus.

Whatever the goals and values may be, they’re not “wrong”.

The struggle comes when they’re not aligned.

Misalignment brings conflicting metrics.

Sometimes “compromise” metrics are added to keep all executive stakeholders happy. When the real corporate goals and values aren’t clearly expressed and shared amongst the executive team, the metrics they choose won’t really hit the mark. They won’t tell the health and trajectory of the projects.

What’s needed is a hard look at the real goals and values of the company before the metrics are chosen.

Here’s how:

  1. Start with the past. What were the most successful, notable projects in the past? Why? What happened with them?
  2. Look at the stated mission and goals. Did those super-successful projects actually support what’s been publicly posted? How? If not, why not, and what values did they represent?
  3. Look to the future. What does success look like? Will your current goals and values help you get there successfully?
  4. Look around you now. Do the current projects fit into this vision of the future? How can you tell?

Past, present, & future. External & internal.  Review the company’s goals and values from all angles.

It may not be easy, and it may mean taking a step away from the office with a facilitator to do it. But this clarity is absolutely essential to success.