What you measure is what you get

“To a man with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.”
— Proverb

The dark side of metrics is when you achieve the target but not the ultimate goal.

Have you thought about how to avoid the Man with Hammer Syndrome? “Man with a Hammer” syndrome is the idea that if you only have one or two mental models in your head, you’ll try to solve all problems with the same approach.

Usually, in projects, we start by defining what success looks like. However, we must be careful about what we measure because it will be what we get.  When I design a plan or a new project, I like to have in mind Charlie Munger's words:  

A special version of this man-with-a-hammer syndrome is terrible, not only in economics but practically everywhere else, including business. It's really terrible in business. You've got a complex system, and it spews out a lot of wonderful numbers that enable you to measure some factors. But there are other factors that are terribly important, [yet] there's no precise numbering you can put to these factors. You know they're important, but you don't have the numbers. Well, practically everybody (1) overweighs the stuff that can be numbered because it yields to the statistical techniques they're taught in academia, and (2) doesn't mix in the hard-to-measure stuff that may be more important. That is a mistake I've tried all my life to avoid, and I have no regrets for having done that.

Although we have some numbers, like engagement in culture plans, other factors cannot be reduced to a number. For example, the energy and commitment of the leaders to the program, the self-learning habits that people are building, and the community of sharing across areas we are creating.  And even if we don't have the perfect number, we know the skills we build are critical.

Consider also the perspectives of these other leaders:

• "What gets measured gets managed – even when it’s pointless to measure and manage it, and even if it harms the purpose of the organization to do so."
  — Peter Drucker

• "Perhaps what you measure is what you get. More likely, what you measure is all you’ll get. What you don’t (or can’t) measure is lost."
  — H. Thomas Johnson

• "Tell me how you measure me, and I will tell you how I will behave. If you measure me in an illogical way…do not complain about illogical behavior..."
  — Eliyahu Moshe Goldratt

Measurement is a great tool, but we must be aware that we need to measure and reward what is really important.