The meaningless metric

Say I have a goal to lose 10 pounds.

So I promise myself to walk a mile every day.
And I keep a journal, recording whether I kept that promise.

So far, so good: a goal, and a metric.

Then I notice it’s hard to hit the metric every day.
So I add an incentive: if I walk the mile, I reward myself with a box of donuts.

Months later, I look back.

I hit the metric.
I didn’t hit the goal.

What went wrong?

I stopped pursuing the outcome and started optimizing the proxy.

This is Goodhart’s Law:
“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

The same thing happens in mission-driven work.

We track dollars raised, emails sent, events held, members counted.
Those numbers are useful.
But they are not the mission.

Metrics are tools for steering.
Outcomes are the point.

Don’t confuse the two.

All the best,
A.