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How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business
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Praise for How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business
"I love this book. Douglas Hubbard helps us create a path to know the answer to almost any question in business, in science, or in life . . . Hubbard helps us by showing us that when we seek metrics to solve problems, we are really trying to know something better than we know it now. How to ...more
"I love this book. Douglas Hubbard helps us create a path to know the answer to almost any question in business, in science, or in life . . . Hubbard helps us by showing us that when we seek metrics to solve problems, we are really trying to know something better than we know it now. How to ...more
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Hardcover, 287 pages
Published
July 1st 2007
by John Wiley & Sons
(first published 1985)
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Showing 1-30
Start your review of How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business
Oct 12, 2013
Jurgen Appelo
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
performance-management
297 references to risk, and only 29 references to opportunity. No mention of unknown unknowns (or black swans), and no mention of the observer effect (goodhart's law). A great book, teaching you all about metrics, as long as you ignore complexity.
The most important thing I learned from this book: “A measurement is a set of observations that reduce uncertainty where the result is expressed as a quantity.” Finally! Someone has clearly explained that measurements are all approximations. Very often in social research, I have to spend a lot of time explaining that metrics don’t need to be exact to be useful and reliable. Hopefully, this book will help me shorten those conversations.
As an engineer, this book makes me happy. A great discussion of how to break *any* problem down into quantifiable metrics, how to figure out which of those metrics is valuable, and how to measure them. The book is fairly actionable, there is a complementary website with lots of handy excel tools, and there are plenty of examples to help you along. The only downside is that this is largely a stats book in disguise, so some parts are fairly dry and a the difficulty level jumps around a little bit.
...more
An OK popularization of measurement techniques. But it downplays the key issue—which is data quality challenges, of which there are at least two types.
The first is the "moneyball" type: a phenomenon where we know intuitively that there are important differences in measurable outcomes but we lack statistically significant explanations. The challenge here is to find things to measure that are consistently revealing of the phenomenon you are ultimately interested in measuring (say team wins). ...more
The first is the "moneyball" type: a phenomenon where we know intuitively that there are important differences in measurable outcomes but we lack statistically significant explanations. The challenge here is to find things to measure that are consistently revealing of the phenomenon you are ultimately interested in measuring (say team wins). ...more
I really like this book. Hubbard not only champions the belief that anything can be measured, he gives you the means (the understanding of how) to get it done. I have used his book on numerous occasions when tackling some difficult data collection efforts.
Hubbard's taxonomy and mine don't fully jive, but that's a minor point; I found much more to like than not. I like to highlight and make notes in good books...this book is full of both. I especially like one of his "useful measurement ...more
Hubbard's taxonomy and mine don't fully jive, but that's a minor point; I found much more to like than not. I like to highlight and make notes in good books...this book is full of both. I especially like one of his "useful measurement ...more
An excellent read. It could be summed up as a "basic statistics for business" book, although it definitely goes beyond that in many aspects.
As the title suggests, throughout the whole book the author strongly defends the case that everything can be measured, even though the method may not be obvious at first glance. The book structure basically consists of the explanations of why this is so and various examples and methods that should help the reader to deal with many types of such problems.
...more
As the title suggests, throughout the whole book the author strongly defends the case that everything can be measured, even though the method may not be obvious at first glance. The book structure basically consists of the explanations of why this is so and various examples and methods that should help the reader to deal with many types of such problems.
...more
There is a lot of good information here but it is more of a text book and very dry. I read this book because I have to make decisions every day. Some decisions are very easy because I have the intell and facts that make the decision for me. But other decisions aren't so easy. What are my "real" risks? How do I separate emotion from a decision? What about all the things involved that can't be measured?
Ah, that is where this book was insightful an helpful. Hubbard aserts that there isn't anything ...more
Ah, that is where this book was insightful an helpful. Hubbard aserts that there isn't anything ...more
Happened to read the book from IIBA.org site where I have been a member since last year. The best takeaway from the book is the structural thought process it brings in while dealing with intangibles which we always are demotivated to measure. To summarize my learning, I would just mention the below which I have copied from the book.
1-If it's really that important, it's something you can define. If it's something you think exists at all, it's something you've already observed somehow.
2-If it's ...more
1-If it's really that important, it's something you can define. If it's something you think exists at all, it's something you've already observed somehow.
2-If it's ...more
This is a dense book. It took me several months to get through it, but that was partially because after the refresher on Bayesian Statistics I started reading another textbook on that.
If you like math and numbers and analysis and have to make decisions, you'll get some useful information from this book. I built my first Monte Carlo model while walking through this.
For years I've been asking friends "How confident are you?" when they give me a binary answer. Eg: Q: Will this be done by Friday? A: ...more
If you like math and numbers and analysis and have to make decisions, you'll get some useful information from this book. I built my first Monte Carlo model while walking through this.
For years I've been asking friends "How confident are you?" when they give me a binary answer. Eg: Q: Will this be done by Friday? A: ...more
Simply put the first half of this is just awesome. As I listened to this via audio the second half is plagued by many formulas that doesn’t translate or understood well when listened to. The second half is also very heavily into statistics which could be a somewhat laborious read for some.
The first half is very recommended as it goes into what it means to “measure” something and suggest some very fundamental questions regarding measuring. E.g.:
What is it you want to have measured? E.g. what does ...more
The first half is very recommended as it goes into what it means to “measure” something and suggest some very fundamental questions regarding measuring. E.g.:
What is it you want to have measured? E.g. what does ...more
Jul 10, 2017
Rick Howard
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
risk,
csc-candidate
Douglas Hubbard’s "How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" is an excellent candidate for the Cybersecurity Canon Hall of Fame. He describes how it is possible to collect data to support risk decisions for even the hardest kinds of questions. He says that that network defenders do not have to have 100% accuracy in our models to help support these risk decisions. We can strive to simply reduce our uncertainty about ranges of possibilities. He writes that this particular view of
...more
A dense, hard to read book, but so worth it
It’s been awhile since I read (and finished) a book so dense and complicated. It was worth it though as it changed so much of how I think about everything. From work and estimation with prioritization to all the data that is around us everyday. So. Very good.
It’s been awhile since I read (and finished) a book so dense and complicated. It was worth it though as it changed so much of how I think about everything. From work and estimation with prioritization to all the data that is around us everyday. So. Very good.
Oh boy, I've been waiting a long time to review this one. I'll start with the good parts, as they're few and far between. I've also posted this review directly from the kindle app twice already, and it doesn't show up, so this is my 3rd attempt to post a review for this book:
The good parts:
I learnt how to measure the population of fish in a lake. That's quite cool! I will not give a spoiler here, enough to say that it involves catching and tagging the fish.
Then I learnt a few statistics ...more
The good parts:
I learnt how to measure the population of fish in a lake. That's quite cool! I will not give a spoiler here, enough to say that it involves catching and tagging the fish.
Then I learnt a few statistics ...more
Sep 30, 2015
Stephen Rynkiewicz
added it
Classical Greeks not only figured out that the planet is round, but had it measured. Eratosthenes calculated its circumference from a lunch-hour measurement at his library in Alexandria during the summer solstice, knowing only his distance from the Tropic of Cancer. Eratosthenes is a hero of Chicago statistician Doug Hubbard, who trains managers in "calibrated estimates," basically closely observed ballpark figures. Here he describes approaches to making more accurate guesses, including when
...more
The title made me curious. The author did make the case that anything can be measured including many things that we consider abstract or intangible. The stories it gave at the start of the book is fascinating and opened my mind about what we think measurement really is. There is no perfect measurement. There is no absolute truth. Measurement is a quantitativly expressed reduction of uncertainty based on one or more observations. I also find the methods to define the problem and the notion that a
...more
This was a fantastic read. It helps with general numeracy as well as providing an overview on how to think about measurement and statistics practically. This is an area where I have some experience and I still learned a lot. This book, especially the first half, should be accessible to everyone.
The second half is a bit more technical and I wished I had been reading in paper instead of in audio. I may do that eventually. The pacing is a little hard in audio and I could have benefited from notes, ...more
The second half is a bit more technical and I wished I had been reading in paper instead of in audio. I may do that eventually. The pacing is a little hard in audio and I could have benefited from notes, ...more
Fairly good business statistics book on measuring factors and on how to apply measurement and some good risk analysis. Definitely overhyped as a revolutionary booklet (I think this happens with business books a lot.) But it is accessible and gives some good advice on how to measure things statistically and using statistical methods for practical applications but it isn't the second coming.
The only other book I've read which justified its length was Decisive by Dan and Chip Heath.
Strategy:
1. Make a list of factors you think are relevant
2. Convert each of these features into a z-score
3. Add them up to get an overall ranking
Before measuring something answer the following:
1. what decision does this support
2. what observable consequences does it have?
3. how does this matter to the decision?
4. what is current level of uncertainty?
5. what is the value of additional information?
...more
Strategy:
1. Make a list of factors you think are relevant
2. Convert each of these features into a z-score
3. Add them up to get an overall ranking
Before measuring something answer the following:
1. what decision does this support
2. what observable consequences does it have?
3. how does this matter to the decision?
4. what is current level of uncertainty?
5. what is the value of additional information?
...more
The book is a very interesting one, that presents the premise that anything that needs to be assessed can be measured, in one form or another. Of course, there is a need to define/redefine what a measurement is. In this, the book is a fascinating look at the paradigm shift that needs to occur to perceive the world in a new way that allows it to be measurable. Many basic assumptions are challenged and revised in the process, which was actually neat. It brings a new perspective, which opens more
...more
A nice book. A must read for sceptics like me who think there are many immeasurables in business. The key message the author gives is, instead of taking a path or avoid taking path because one does not find the right measurement, an attempt should be made to find out what can be measured to reduce the risk if the path is taken or not taken. This will help make a more sensible decision than just saying there are immeasurables. In short some information is better than no information.
It is ...more
It is ...more
For a long time time now, I've heard recommendation from various people, that this book is really worth reading. It took me a while to grab it though, as it did not seem as very interested topic for me, but finally I decided to give it a try - I needed to think about some measures, and I hoped to find some inspiration and guidelines.
Cutting through the chase - I feel deeply disappointed. I feel like this book is more about decission making and statistics (or probabilities) rathern than actual ...more
Cutting through the chase - I feel deeply disappointed. I feel like this book is more about decission making and statistics (or probabilities) rathern than actual ...more
This is a good layman's introduction to reducing uncertainty, especially in business problems. Hubbard makes a strong case for prioritizing measurement of even seemingly nebulous intangibles. The book is centered around a useful framework for tailoring uncertainty reduction to specific problems (p. 41-42; p. 266-270). As a result, I can see this book being a pillar for an enlightened manager to reference frequently.
I found the first half of the book excellent. It was dense with intuitive ...more
I found the first half of the book excellent. It was dense with intuitive ...more
Mar 16, 2018
Stuart Bobb
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Nearly anybody making decisions with incomplete data.
This book is not your typical breezy business book that you skim/read on an airplane flight. It's closer to a text book in terms of information density and complexity. Bayesian statistics, calibrated experts, Monte Carlo simulations and a pile of other data heavy methodologies are brought to bear on some very challenging measurement questions.
The basic premise of this book is that far more things can be measured - to some degree of confidence - than you might ever imagine. If you are careful ...more
I liked this book well enough, but I think that it doesn't give an accurate description of what you should expect when you start it. The author makes a point of saying that it has been adopted as reading material for university classes but how it has not been written as a textbook. I beg to differ, especially by the fact that an accompanying workbook does exist.
Overall, the information was great. I have learned to approach measurements and goals with more of a plan in mind and got some excellent ...more
Overall, the information was great. I have learned to approach measurements and goals with more of a plan in mind and got some excellent ...more
A good book about the value of measuring things in business.
My top 5-10 takeaways were:
- To be valuable, a measurement doesn't have to remove uncertainty, it just needs to reduce it.
- If it matters at all, it is detectable/observable. (Even for "touch-feely" things like employee engagement.)
- You often don't need to know something with absolute certainty. The amount when it starts to matter is the "threshold". If you can measure enough to meet the threshold, that is enough.
- If we can't ...more
My top 5-10 takeaways were:
- To be valuable, a measurement doesn't have to remove uncertainty, it just needs to reduce it.
- If it matters at all, it is detectable/observable. (Even for "touch-feely" things like employee engagement.)
- You often don't need to know something with absolute certainty. The amount when it starts to matter is the "threshold". If you can measure enough to meet the threshold, that is enough.
- If we can't ...more
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“If a measurement matters at all, it is because it must have some conceivable effect on decisions and behaviour. If we can't identify a decision that could be affected by a proposed measurement and how it could change those decisions, then the measurement simply has no value”
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7 likes
“As far as the propositions of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. —Albert Einstein (1879–1955)”
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4 likes
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