vsbabu.org

Planning thoughts

I’m fanatic about measuring work. Or rather, measuring anything. Like Einstein said, “if you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist”. Or, “measure twice, cut once”.

Over the next few days, I’m planning to write some thoughts on the following measurements. Since this is a weblog, I’m planning to write the first cut with no measurements

1. Measuring time. How much time I spend on stuff? How much of it is planned? How much of time do I typically spend on doing X type of thing?
2. Measuring core values. It is quite common for companies and departments to come up with the core values. Some of these could be Dependability, Usability, Convenience, Affordability, Innovation. These are all good to feel nice at a conceptual level. How do you measure how much you follow some of these values?
3. Measure Knowledge Capital. If your company has more than one employee, you want to invest on developing the knowledge capital. How and why do you measure the process and the results?
4. Measure "Big Picture". Common perception is that big picture is the territory of big boys. No. For every additional person that gets the bigger picture, there is going to be one additional week your company is going to progress. Another common perception is that you can’t measure the big picture. Wrong again. It is possible.
5. Measure Processes. This is a critical aspect. Processes alone won’t enable success. Constantly measuring, monitoring and applying mid-term corrections will enable success. So, how do you measure processes?