Date: 2025-05-02 Page is: DBtxt003.php L0913-TVM-MMW-000016
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TrueValueMetrics ... Peter Burgess Manuscript
Making Management Work for Relief and Development |
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Chapter 16
Measure |
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Make Measurements
Measure, collect data Measure results. Start talking about what is accomplished and at what cost. Measure costs and results over the most suitable time period, but tend to the shortest time period that yields meaningful results. With a rapid iteration of information and related feedback it is possible to optimize performance more rapidly and get the best possible results at least cost. Even the best of implementation managers will do better when there is a good system of measurement. Measurement should happen every day or at whatever time interval makes the most practical sense. Usually the shorter the time interval the better. Measurement should be done in ways that are easy, practical and reliable. Measurement should result in information about costs, what was done and the results arising from the activities. In a mature measurement environment it should be possible to compare costs and results in a coherent way over activities in various different places and at different times. Making a lot of measurements and getting a lot of information is interesting but not valuable. The purpose of management information is to use it to get the best possible results. Measure ... make it easy The best information is often the easiest information ... but it does require discipline. The following information should be very easy to obtain in most practical situations: ➢ What was done today ... how much was spent today. ➢ What is the cumulative accomplishment for the month ... what is the cumulative cost for the month. ➢ What is the cumulative accomplishment for the year ... what is the cumulative cost for the year. Distributed analysis Some value can be immediately derived from local information, before it is every communicated and consolidated at another level. For example: ➢ How do the measures of today compare with prior results ... this month compared to last month ... this month this year with the same month last year ... this year with prior years ... etc., etc. Distributed data analysis makes it possible for local decisions to be made quickly prior to analysis work being done in some remote place. This has been described as the democratization of organization, with data and performance and decisions all being fully integrated and accessible at the local level. This is, of course, consistent with the community focus described later. Organize the data There are many works for information to be organized. The organization is to some extent science and to some extent art. The goal is for the organization to be easy to do and for it to be powerful so that analysis is easy. The basic rule is to analyze and code the data once well, and then use the data multiple times after that ... this is much more powerful than hoping that random analysis will provide useful results. That is not to say that searching for the unseen connections is not useful, but only that it organized data are best used for management purposes. Communicate and consolidate the data The locally collected data should be communicated to a system that facilitates consolidation of data and its comparison, for example: ➢ How the measures in one place compare with similar measures for people in other places doing the same sort of work. What can we learn so that we can do things better? With data all sorts of things are possible. Result of measurement The result of measurement should be for the immediate area operators to know much more about cost and results, and be in a better position to improve their work. The culture of doing the most for the least should start to be the norm rather than the exception. The broader dialog about the operations can start to be a dialog about costs and benefits, about trends, about behavior of cost and benefit under different circumstances. |
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