Your organization must maintain a list of operational traits, recent historical quantities, and target values. More specifically, determine:

• what is worth measuring

• what are leading metrics

• what are lagging metrics

• how to measure current levels … and

• the target range (what qualifies as Green)

• the borderline range (what qualifies as Yellow)

• the unacceptable range (what qualifies as Red)

Leading metrics are what your organization can directly control via a decision. Treat leading metrics as if they are levers to push and pull or dials to rotate left and right.

Lagging metrics are what your organization cannot directly control. Treat lagging metrics as if they are analog or digital gauges behind glass. You read these gauges after moving some levers and letting some time pass.

Good default lagging metrics are simply effort and duration; i.e. how much work was it and how long did it take?

Measuring various things about your organization’s Operations is a key input to Innovation decisions. Every organization must know how to describe operational excellence. This is highly unique to the organization. Change Leaders need to know how their project(s) “move the needle,” or they need to acknowledge that they do not know if their project “moves the needle.”

Upstream Assets: Market Forces Matrix, Report Detail

Downstream Assets: Change Log, Parking Lot / BRIQ Log

Frequency: monthly