Game the 🤬 Metrics

This issue frequently arises when I work with clients to set team goals or targets.

We always have the same objection: If we have any measurable targets, then people are going to game the system, and these will not work.

This thinking is holding us back.

The objections are partly true and partly false.

Yes, when you set a target, people will game the system and do things to move the target.  

It is true that they will game the system, so in that sense, the observation is correct… but have you succeeded?  

Didn’t you want them to do what it takes to move the metric?  Well… wooo! Success. 🎉

You want them to game the system, and if people are paying attention and taking action to move the metric, you have success, not failure.

Now, to be fair, there is an underlying concern that is being stated poorly:

"People will do something other than what you wanted them to do to move the metric."

It's not cheating, but the finer point is that they will find a way to move the metric without achieving your desired goals.

Well, dang.  But that’s probably your fault.  Maybe you specified an input metric, such as doing some work… whereas you should have selected some output metric (such as achieving some outcome).

But don’t worry. 

Not all is lost because we should be all about iterations.  

What we really want to do here is learn and adjust. 

You can acknowledge what happened (good learning for everyone), adjust the metric, and try again.

Another scenario is that you specified an excellent metric, which moved, but now the problem or bottleneck shifted elsewhere.

You may or may not want to keep this metric / target in place, but you may also want to specify additional targets. 

Rinse, lather, repeat.

Takeaways:

👉  Don’t tolerate this objection.  Set targets when it makes sense to do so.

👉  Use the opportunity to ask whether the objecting party has any ideas for better metrics or whether they foresee any ways this will be immediately abused. Fix those from the get-go.

👉  Don’t fall into analysis paralysis until you have figured out the perfect metric. Do your best to come up with something reasonable, then compare it to reality and adjust from there.

The sooner you can put it out there, the sooner you will generate the necessary feedback and be able to make any adjustments.

Now, your biggest problem may not even be on this list.  

The biggest problem you may have is that you set a target, and nobody pays attention to it.

Nobody tries to game your metrics, which is a much harder problem. 

Here, you need to start making this target visible to everyone. 

👉  Get it in front of everyone and discuss it at every opportunity until you get folks to pay attention. Use 1:1s, all hands, and anywhere else you can think of.

👉  Make it clear not only what you are doing but also WHY you are doing this. Why is this important, and how does it impact everyone in a way that they should care about?