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SessionFour015

Designing, Using and Benefiting from Non-Quantitative Metrics
NaomiKarten and BobKing

Gathering metrics is generally viewed as a quantitatively-oriented task. You put an automated or manual measuring device up to a process or activity, gather some data, and periodically analyze and interpret that data to draw conclusions you can act on.

But there's another type of metrics that can be equally valuable, a qualitative type that relies not on numerical data, but on observations, perceptions, intuitions, and inklings. These metrics focus on things that catch your attention, sometimes because you explicitly looked for them, and sometimes because you were alert enough to notice them when they emerged. By being sensitive to these non-qualitative indicators, you can gain important information about pressing issues and looming problems -- as well as things that are working well �- that you might miss if you limited yourself strictly to quantitative metrics.

This session will help you develop your awareness of qualitative metrics. We'll share some that we've found useful in our own work, such as the Anxiety Metric, the Conflict Metric, the "Really?" Metric, and the Blaming Metric. Through playful simulations and group activities, you'll have the opportunity to fine tune your observation skills so as to recognize useful qualitative information in your environment. And we'll put our heads together and come up with a long list of qualitative metrics that might help in recognizing signs of trouble or indicators of success.

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