That doesn’t always work. SAT tests for schools, waiting times for hospitals they don’t really reflect what’s going on. If your school kids are all getting lots of middle class help at home then they will (on average) out perform a load of English as a second language / “Shameless” parented nippers. By recording waiting times in casualty we end up with patients stuck in ambulances and not allowed in until they can be “processed” within the time limit.

I come to this thought as I just ordered 12 Kensington locks - little bicycle lock type cables to lock up various bits of kit round the office. In the old days I would have ordered them off eBay / redstore / Lyman’s or gone to PC world & then expensed them. Of course as part of a “big company” I order them via the intranet & they probably buy them in at half the retail price. However, when they arrive DHL’ed in 12 separate boxes I don’t think they are saving any money! I was disgusted & amazed at the waste & stupidity but thinking about it it’s probably a case of metrics. I expect whoever shipped them will be in line for a bonus because they are measured on how many boxes they ship & they’ve shipped loads.

We live in an alienated, miss-trusting world - oh for the days when your boss knew what you did & how well you did it rather than sitting miles away looking at (quite possibly misleading) figures.

Next time you look at / generate performance stats have a think about what they really mean.