3 ms·

It sounds like you have a dysfunctional organisation as much as KPIs are a problem. KPIs and everything around them have been studied to death in more than the

It sounds like you have a dysfunctional organisation as much as KPIs are a problem. KPIs and everything around them have been studied to death in more than the last 40 years, so there should be few surprises around when they are useful or not. People and politics are the constant so we never get away from organisations like the one you describe.

fendy3002 3y ago
Here's a good Q&A as well as links to some good reads there: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1168131/how-to-measure-software-development-performance https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1168131/how-to-measure-s... KPIs (as a target) are undoubtedly good for something that's directly benefit the company (with the caveat of long or short period), and the task is static. This is good for 40 years ago where factory worker are a thing, which nowadays, those good KPIs are mostly replaced with machine specifications. What those people's complaining about the KPIs are for knowledge tasks, usually software development, where it's full of uncertainty and almost impossible to estimate (see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstadter's_law) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstadter's_law). If you can't estimate the work, how can you make targets? You can only measure it and hope that the measurement can help for future estimation.
- zerkten 3y ago
  I think the first thing you need to do is get out of the programmer mindset. The problem you are solving may be closer to resolving the anxiety of leadership, or build confidence. In reality, the situation is complex and our responses may undermine confidence and drive anxiety at different rates with different stakeholders If you ask some folks from other fields to read the StackOverflow link you shared, they'd provide some insights that aren't fully explored. I don't think you can get there with KPIs, but at the same time, you can't completely discard methods like these which have some level of credibility with other stakeholders. As evidenced by many conversations on this topic involving programmers, KPIs get completely thrown out, or worse, undermined. Insufficient time and effort is given to actually making the leap to something that might be useful sustainable. Hence, many places never break away from KPIs and the complaints keep coming. Measurement without particular targets can be quite useful when the organization is open to sharing data without punitive responses. This gives you different axes to explore with regards performance so that you can shape your messaging around performance provided you can contextualize it. EDIT: My personal philosophy on how strategy should work and be implemented is closer to that of Mintzberg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Mintzberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Mintzberg) than Porter.
  - fendy3002 3y ago
    We're talking different things here. Many others are talking about incentivized KPIs or KPI that become target. You treat KPI as measurements which is a legit things to do. IMO keep measuring, identify all the problems and fix/improve them, and reward based on team achievement rather than target, it'll boost morale overall.

fendy3002 3y ago

Here's a good Q&A as well as links to some good reads there: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1168131/how-to-measure-software-development-performance https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1168131/how-to-measure-s... KPIs (as a target) are undoubtedly good for something that's directly benefit the company (with the caveat of long or short period), and the task is static. This is good for 40 years ago where factory worker are a thing, which nowadays, those good KPIs are mostly replaced with machine specifications. What those people's complaining about the KPIs are for knowledge tasks, usually software development, where it's full of uncertainty and almost impossible to estimate (see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstadter's_law) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstadter's_law). If you can't estimate the work, how can you make targets? You can only measure it and hope that the measurement can help for future estimation.

zerkten 3y ago
I think the first thing you need to do is get out of the programmer mindset. The problem you are solving may be closer to resolving the anxiety of leadership, or build confidence. In reality, the situation is complex and our responses may undermine confidence and drive anxiety at different rates with different stakeholders If you ask some folks from other fields to read the StackOverflow link you shared, they'd provide some insights that aren't fully explored. I don't think you can get there with KPIs, but at the same time, you can't completely discard methods like these which have some level of credibility with other stakeholders. As evidenced by many conversations on this topic involving programmers, KPIs get completely thrown out, or worse, undermined. Insufficient time and effort is given to actually making the leap to something that might be useful sustainable. Hence, many places never break away from KPIs and the complaints keep coming. Measurement without particular targets can be quite useful when the organization is open to sharing data without punitive responses. This gives you different axes to explore with regards performance so that you can shape your messaging around performance provided you can contextualize it. EDIT: My personal philosophy on how strategy should work and be implemented is closer to that of Mintzberg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Mintzberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Mintzberg) than Porter.
- fendy3002 3y ago
  We're talking different things here. Many others are talking about incentivized KPIs or KPI that become target. You treat KPI as measurements which is a legit things to do. IMO keep measuring, identify all the problems and fix/improve them, and reward based on team achievement rather than target, it'll boost morale overall.