Connections - Intertwingled: Information Changes Everything - page 62

Figure 3-8. A stock-and-flow shows controls and context.
Each diagram is useful, but all maps are traps; that's why we need more than one. By mixing
models we paint a picture that helps us see the truth. We've done this with spatial maps, but it's
time to tackle time. Business is stuck at the surface. Managers pretend measurement is simple
and clear: set goals, track progress, reward success. But that's not how it works. The loops that
bind goals, process, and metrics are very tricky.
The story of how we work and what we count is told by the faults in our products and the seams
in our services. Today's shallow, siloed analytics will not stand. Of course we should measure
clicks and conversions, but fixation on feedback loops that are easy to see is reminiscent of the
drunk seeking his car keys under the streetlight. What's lost in the chatter about KPIs (key per-
formance indicators) and OKRs (objectives and key results) is the value of insight and synthesis.
Should we survey customer satisfaction and loyalty? Absolutely! Can the practice of making
public commitments to ambitious, measurable goals boost motivation and performance? Yes!
But we must be wary of reductionism and recidivism. Our numbers tell us what but not why;
they calculate the future as the sum of its past; and shape how we think and what we do more
than we know. Once a metric is defined, it's hard to ignore. If we use conversions as a metric,
satisfaction and loyalty may suffer. When we commit in public to a goal, we're less likely to
pivot. It's our conversations about the numbers that count. Right action follows the whole of
what and why.
Peter Drucker, the legendary management consultant, is credited with the maxim “if you can't
measure it, you can't manage it,” but he was far too wise to say that. The truth is self-evident in
his advice to an executive.
Your first role…is the personal one. It is the relationship with people, the development of mutual confid-
ence, the identification of people, the creation of a community. This is something only you can do. It can-
not be measured or easily defined. But it is not only a key function. It is one only you can perform. l xxii
These are the questions we must ask. What's important but can't be measured? Is it being ig-
nored? What's the something only you can do that's not being done right now? Is it time for you
to act? I'm hopeful we will make connections that make a difference by shining our light into the
darkness beyond the streetlamp. To sketch links and loops out of thin air is to make the invisible