Measurement and reporting
Measure the decision, not the data
Measurement serves decisions. Candidates should be fluent in the chain from critical success factors (CSFs) - what must go right for an objective to be achieved - to key performance indicators (KPIs) that give evidence of it, and down to lower-level metrics that are diagnostic rather than decisive. Objectives, CSFs and KPIs must trace back to strategy; a KPI with no parent objective is decoration.
Know the difference between leading indicators (predictive, forward-looking - backlog growth, competency trend) and lagging indicators (backward-looking outcomes - availability last month, satisfaction last quarter). A balanced set uses both. Frameworks such as the balanced scorecard remind you to look across several perspectives rather than solely at financial or technical results.
Reporting should be tailored to the audience, timely and actionable: a governing body needs trend, risk and value; a team needs operational detail. Avoid classic errors - measuring only what is easy, collecting everything and reporting nothing, gaming the metric, and comparing numbers without baseline or context.
Traps: questions implying more metrics means better control, that KPIs must be financial, or that measurement ends once the report is published.
Worked example: objective 'reduce onboarding time'. CSF: new starters become productive quickly. KPI: median days to first independent contribution (lagging). Leading indicators: percentage of access requests met within SLA, percentage of induction sessions attended. Review monthly and act on the leading indicators.