What Gets Measured Gets Done

by Hal on June 30, 2004

in project planning, tips

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It's been a few weeks since I published a Project e-Tip. I've got lots to offer! I've been working with teams who are just beginning to go on the Last Planner System™. While a few are struggling, others are making great progress. This week's tip just might be the key to making everyday improvement.


The Project Reformer's e-Tip of the Week
028: Measure Planning Reliability

Anyone know who first said, "What gets measured gets done?" I found a reference to a 1986 Tom Peters' article What Gets Measured Gets Done. Let's just start this Project e-Tip by saying if you aren't measuring, then you can't know if you are improving. We've come to learn that on projects reliability of planning is more important than productivity of work groups. But are you measuring reliability? No! Start now.

Measuring reliability is a simple process. Start by meeting with your team on an everyday basis for just a few minutes. I recommend doing this at the end of the day. Schedule the meeting for 5 minutes. During this meeting you have one question. "Did you finish what you promised to finish today?" The only allowed answers are "Yes" or "No". Record the answers on a graph. The graph doesn't need to be fancy. Flip chart paper will do. Add to the graph each day. Record the result for your team as a percent. 5 tasks finished out of 7 promised to finish is 71%. Plot that on a graph. No credit for progress or for performing work that was not promised. The point of this exercise is to improve planning reliability.

Check back next week for uncovering the reasons for unreliability.

The Project Leaders' Studio™

©2004 Hal Macomber | weblog.halmacomber.com | e-Tip Archive | PDF | Submit Tip

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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

1 Glen B. Alleman July 12, 2004 at 5:32 am

Extending this concept to earned value is a natural process. 0%/100% is the current government contracting guideline.

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