I like to gauge success with measurements.  We ask our clients what success looks like in measurable terms before we start the interpretative design process.  We set those as success factors on our projects.  I believe defining things in terms of a quantifiable number brings clarity to expectations.  Clarity helps make the target clear, eliminates communication problems and is good management practice.  Peter Drucker said what gets measured gets managed.

Many people believe there are some things that cannot be measured.  I have the book How to Measure Anything by Douglas Hubbard.  He defines measurement as a set of observations that reduce uncertainty where the result is expressed as a quantity.  Measuring eliminates uncertainty.  He says, “If you find out more than you knew before, then you have performed a measurement in the strictest scientific sense.”

At Taylor Studios, we have many measurements.  These include typical business measurements like net income, gross profit and revenue.  We also measure utilization rates, web site traffic, time goals, overhead per employee, customer satisfaction and much more.  Today I was discussing how to measure the quality of a design with my Art Director, Jason Cox.  Jason created a quality assessment for fabrication several years ago.  We are now creating a quality assessment form for design.  The form has several check boxes that must be met before we allow the design to go out the door.  They include:

• Does it fulfill the client’s needs and expectations?

• Does the design match the Central Theme?

• Is it easy to service?

• Was our design process and ADA followed?

I asked Jason how do we measure creativity.  We talked about how I might find something creative and he will not.  Isn’t creativity subjective?  Jason helped clarify this by adding standards like: is the exhibit clean, concise, well organized, legible, inviting and provoking.  This type of thought process helps bring clarity to creativity.  This eliminates a moving target when we are evaluating creativity.

Illustration Received an "Excellent" on our Quality Assessment I agree with Douglas Hubbard in that you can measure anything.  I think the problem is that many people don’t want to be measured.  With measurement comes accountability.  It’s easier to say we’ll leave early tomorrow morning than it is to say we will leave at 7:00 a.m. (a measurement of lateness).  There is also the risk that you will utilize the wrong measurement or a measurement will cause unintended consequences.   We avoid this by using a combination of measurements and keeping an eye on the behavior measurements cause.

Obviously, you need to ask why you are measuring something.  Douglas mentions asking several questions to help reduce ambiguity including:  why do you care, what decisions would be different if this measurement turned out to be higher or lower than expected?  We use our quality assessments to manage quality control.  They are also used in employee evaluations.

What measurements do you use to define success or clarify a problem?