How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business

by Douglas W. Hubbard

If those are the choices, the required measurements are not simply the total

value of IT or clean water.

area? So, in order to make sure you are talking about a real decision, make sure it has the following properties. Requirements for a Decision

Potential Forms

A decision can be one big thing or many little things.

They could be a large number of small,

recurring decisions

Or they could be a portfolio of several different kinds of one-time decisions

You might find that there are a lot of other things to measure besides what you first thought you needed to measure, and that

one of these new variables is the most important measurement of all

Quantitative clarity is a strong foundation for the advancement of any field. Consider

“force”

“energy” or “power”—

Likewise, the decision maker requires unambiguous and quantitatively sound definitions for uncertainty and risk

Many government employees imagine the commercial world as an almost mythical place of incentive-driven efficiency and motivation where fear of going out of business keeps everyone on their toes

government workers lament that they are not as efficient as a business. To those in the business world, however, the government (federal, state, or other) is a synonym for bureaucratic inefficiency and unmotivated workers counting the days to retirement.

The fact is that large businesses with vast internal structures still have workers so far removed from the economic realities of business that their jobs are as bureaucratic as any job in government.