Category: 07. Measures

Why do we still measure things in horsepower?

A thought-provoker by Joe Phelan, published on LiveScience If you’re buying a car and have no experience with power measurements or vehicle stats, you may be baffled by one of the vehicle’s key capabilities: its horsepower. Based on that term, you may assume that a horse can produce around 1 horsepower. Linguistically, it makes perfect sense. …

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It’s time to redefine workplace productivity

By Adrienne Gormley – an article in Techradar.pro fully supporting our view that, apart from the huge increase in the amount of time available for productive work caused by the pandemic, there’s also a huge increase in productivity on the way as people focus on why they’re paid, not the time they input Business leaders …

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Microsoft software criticised as workplace surveillance

Alex Hern, writing in the Guardian, raises serious concerns about Microsoft software and a ‘Big Brother’ return to office work, especially when time inputs are, at long last, being recognised as far less important to efficiency and effectiveness success than results output Microsoft has been criticised for enabling “workplace surveillance” after privacy campaigners warned that …

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Small Businesses measure up differently

Michelle Ovens campaigns for the UK’s 5.5 million SBs in the ‘Small Business’ publication She notes that small businesses are responding to this time of change and uncertainty with Brexit by keeping faith in the community values that make them the backbone of the UK economy. She asks: “Perhaps we have been looking at small …

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US views on employee performance measures

A sample of US managers’ views was recently published on performance measures they use In essence, they said: ‘App overload’ constantly disrupts work flows – they’re meant to streamline productivity and communications but do the opposite – most employees want a single platform for phone calls, chats, email and team messaging – so get rid …

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Current measures have huge gaps

Most managers, whether at task, process or organisation level, lack the comprehensive set of performance measures they need to cover all their KRAs (Key Result Areas) In effect, they’re flying blind Current coverage is estimated to be as follows: 90% – Financial results – in particular, Revenue, Costs, Profits – at board level, they might …

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Measure what you need, not what you can

Performance measures are needed by all managers, in public as well as private sectors, to steer them towards taking the right action in the right places at the right time They should answer such big questions as: Is my team/ unit on course or not – if not, how far off – are we standing …

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Tesco’s ‘Steering Wheel’

The blunt truth, according to Terry Leahy in an article he penned for The Times, is that if public services were exposed to more competition, their performance would improve He strongly believes in competition after spending 33 years at Tesco during which time it rose from being a bit of a joke to the third …

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