Metrics are a hot topic. Executive leadership, boards of directors, management, and customers are all asking for data-based decisions. As a result, many managers, professionals, and change agents are asked to develop metrics, but have no clear idea of how to produce meaningful ones. Wouldn’t it be great to have a simple explanation of how to collect, analyze, report, and use measurements to improve your organization? Metrics: How to Improve Key Business Results provides that explanation and the tools you'll need to make your organization more effective. Not only does the book explain the “why” of metrics, but it walks you through a step-by-step process for creating a report card that provides a clear picture of organizational health and how well you satisfy customer needs. Metrics will help you to measure the right things, the right way—the first time. No wasted effort, no chasing data. The report card provides a simple tool for viewing the health of your organization, from the outside in. You will learn how to measure the key components of the report card and thereby improve real measures of business success, like repeat customers, customer loyalty, and word-of-mouth advertising. This book: Provides a step-by-step guide for building an organizational effectiveness report card Takes you from identifying key services and products and using metrics, to determining business strategy Provides examples of how to identify, collect, analyze, and report metrics that will be immediately useful for improving all aspects of the enterprise, including IT

From Joshua Angrist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, and Jörn-Steffen Pischke, an accessible and fun guide to the essential tools of econometric research Applied econometrics, known to aficionados as 'metrics, is the original data science. 'Metrics encompasses the statistical methods economists use to untangle cause and effect in human affairs. Through accessible discussion and with a dose of kung fu–themed humor, Mastering 'Metrics presents the essential tools of econometric research and demonstrates why econometrics is exciting and useful. The five most valuable econometric methods, or what the authors call the Furious Five—random assignment, regression, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity designs, and differences in differences—are illustrated through well-crafted real-world examples (vetted for awesomeness by Kung Fu Panda's Jade Palace). Does health insurance make you healthier? Randomized experiments provide answers. Are expensive private colleges and selective public high schools better than more pedestrian institutions? Regression analysis and a regression discontinuity design reveal the surprising truth. When private banks teeter, and depositors take their money and run, should central banks step in to save them? Differences-in-differences analysis of a Depression-era banking crisis offers a response. Could arresting O. J. Simpson have saved his ex-wife's life? Instrumental variables methods instruct law enforcement authorities in how best to respond to domestic abuse. Wielding econometric tools with skill and confidence, Mastering 'Metrics uses data and statistics to illuminate the path from cause to effect. Shows why econometrics is important Explains econometric research through humorous and accessible discussion Outlines empirical methods central to modern econometric practice Works through interesting and relevant real-world examples

How the obsession with quantifying human performance threatens business, medicine, education, government—and the quality of our lives Today, organizations of all kinds are ruled by the belief that the path to success is quantifying human performance, publicizing the results, and dividing up the rewards based on the numbers. But in our zeal to instill the evaluation process with scientific rigor, we've gone from measuring performance to fixating on measuring itself—and this tyranny of metrics now threatens the quality of our organizations and lives. In this brief, accessible, and powerful book, Jerry Muller uncovers the damage metrics are causing and shows how we can begin to fix the problem. Filled with examples from business, medicine, education, government, and other fields, the book explains why paying for measured performance doesn't work, why surgical scorecards may increase deaths, and much more. But Muller also shows that, when used as a complement to judgment based on personal experience, metrics can be beneficial, and he includes an invaluable checklist of when and how to use them. The result is an essential corrective to a harmful trend that increasingly affects us all.

How the increasing reliance on metrics to evaluate scholarly publications has produced new forms of academic fraud and misconduct. The traditional academic imperative to “publish or perish” is increasingly coupled with the newer necessity of “impact or perish”—the requirement that a publication have “impact,” as measured by a variety of metrics, including citations, views, and downloads. Gaming the Metrics examines how the increasing reliance on metrics to evaluate scholarly publications has produced radically new forms of academic fraud and misconduct. The contributors show that the metrics-based “audit culture” has changed the ecology of research, fostering the gaming and manipulation of quantitative indicators, which lead to the invention of such novel forms of misconduct as citation rings and variously rigged peer reviews. The chapters, written by both scholars and those in the trenches of academic publication, provide a map of academic fraud and misconduct today. They consider such topics as the shortcomings of metrics, the gaming of impact factors, the emergence of so-called predatory journals, the “salami slicing” of scientific findings, the rigging of global university rankings, and the creation of new watchdogs and forensic practices.

The Definitive Guide to Quantifying, Classifying, and Measuring Enterprise IT Security Operations Security Metrics is the first comprehensive best-practice guide to defining, creating, and utilizing security metrics in the enterprise. Using sample charts, graphics, case studies, and war stories, Yankee Group Security Expert Andrew Jaquith demonstrates exactly how to establish effective metrics based on your organization’s unique requirements. You’ll discover how to quantify hard-to-measure security activities, compile and analyze all relevant data, identify strengths and weaknesses, set cost-effective priorities for improvement, and craft compelling messages for senior management. Security Metrics successfully bridges management’s quantitative viewpoint with the nuts-and-bolts approach typically taken by security professionals. It brings together expert solutions drawn from Jaquith’s extensive consulting work in the software, aerospace, and financial services industries, including new metrics presented nowhere else. You’ll learn how to: • Replace nonstop crisis response with a systematic approach to security improvement • Understand the differences between “good” and “bad” metrics • Measure coverage and control, vulnerability management, password quality, patch latency, benchmark scoring, and business-adjusted risk • Quantify the effectiveness of security acquisition, implementation, and other program activities • Organize, aggregate, and analyze your data to bring out key insights • Use visualization to understand and communicate security issues more clearly • Capture valuable data from firewalls and antivirus logs, third-party auditor reports, and other resources • Implement balanced scorecards that present compact, holistic views of organizational security effectiveness

The only guide devoted exclusively to social media metrics Whether you are selling online, through a direct sales force, or via distribution channels, what customers are saying about you online is now more important than your advertising. Social media is no longer a curiosity on the horizon but a significant part of your marketing mix. While other books explain why social media is critical and how to go about participating, Social Media Metrics focuses on measuring the success of your social media marketing efforts. Success metrics in business are based on business goals where fame does not always equate to fortune. Read this book to determine: Why striving for more Twitter followers or Facebook friends than the competition is a failing strategy How to leverage the time and effort you invest in social media How to convince those who are afraid of new things that social media is a valuable business tool and not just a toy for the overly-wired Knowing what works and what doesn't is terrific, but only in a constant and unchanging world. Social Media Metrics is loaded with specific examples of specific metrics you can use to guide your social media marketing efforts as new means of communication.

Metrics-Based Process Mapping (MBPM) is a tactical-level, visual mapping approach that enables improvement teams to make effective, data-based decisions regarding waste elimination and measure ongoing process performance. The mapping technique, often used to drill down from a value stream map, integrates the functional orientation of traditional swim-lane process maps with time and quality metrics that are essential for designing improved processes. Building on the success of its popular predecessor, Metrics-Based Process Mapping: An Excel-Based Solution, this book takes readers to the next level in understanding processes and process improvement. Included with the book is an interactive macro-driven Excel tool, which allows users to electronically capture their current and future state maps. The tool also audits the maps for completeness, summarizes the metrics, and auto-calculates the improvements. Improvements to this version include: Foundational content about processes—what they are and how they vary A description of the difference between value-stream and process-level maps New content about how to bridge the gap between your current state and your desired future state Tips for effective team formation and mapping facilitation An implementation plan for those using the mapping methodology as a standalone tool and not part of a Kaizen Event The Excel-based tool included on the accompanying CD provides readers with a user-friendly way to electronically archive manually created maps in team settings for easier storage and distribution across your entire organization. While current and future state MBPMs are initially created during team-based activities using butcher paper and post-its, the electronic maps serve as standard work documentation for the improved process, enabling training, communication, and process monitoring activities. This flexible, user-friendly tool includes: A custom toolbar that simplifies map creation and editing Automated calculation of key metrics An audit feature to prevent mapping errors The ability to simulate how improvements will impact staffing requirements System Requirements: The tool is intended for use on PCs using Excel 2003 or later—it will NOT function with earlier versions of Excel, or on Macintosh computers. View a demo of the Excel tool at: www.mbpmapping.com

This volume's contributors evaluate the accomplishments, limits, and consequences of using quantitative metrics in global health. Whether analyzing maternal mortality rates, the relationships between political goals and metrics data, or the links between health outcomes and a program's fiscal support, the contributors question the ability of metrics to solve global health problems. They capture a moment when global health scholars and practitioners must evaluate the potential effectiveness and pitfalls of different metrics—even as they remain elusive and problematic. Contributors. Vincanne Adams, Susan Erikson, Molly Hales, Pierre Minn, Adeola Oni-Orisan, Carolyn Smith-Morris, Marlee Tichenor, Lily Walkover, Claire L. Wendland

Summary Agile Metrics in Action is a rich resource for agile teams that aim to use metrics to objectively measure performance. You'll learn how to gather data that really counts, along with how to effectively analyze and act upon the results. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Book The iterative nature of agile development is perfect for experience-based, continuous improvement. Tracking systems, test and build tools, source control, continuous integration, and other built-in parts of a project lifecycle throw off a wealth of data you can use to improve your products, processes, and teams. The question is, how to do it? Agile Metrics in Action teaches you how. This practical book is a rich resource for an agile team that aims to use metrics to objectively measure performance. You'll learn how to gather the data that really count, along with how to effectively analyze and act upon the results. Along the way, you'll discover techniques all team members can use for better individual accountability and team performance. Practices in this book will work with any development process or tool stack. For code-based examples, this book uses Groovy, Grails, and MongoDB. What's Inside Use the data you generate every day from CI and Scrum Improve communication, productivity, transparency, and morale Objectively measure performance Make metrics a natural byproduct of your development process About the Author Christopher Davis has been a software engineer and team leader for over 15 years. He has led numerous teams to successful delivery using agile methodologies. Table of Contents PART 1 MEASURING AGILE TEAMS Measuring agile performance Observing a live project PART 2 COLLECTING AND ANALYZING YOUR TEAM'S DATA Trends and data from project-tracking systems Trends and data from source control Trends and data from CI and deployment servers Data from your production systems PART 3 APPLYING METRICS TO YOUR TEAMS, PROCESSES, AND SOFTWARE Working with the data you're collecting: the sum of the parts Measuring the technical quality of your software Publishing metrics Measuring your team against the agile principles

""This is the single best book on software quality engineering and metrics that I've encountered."" --Capers Jones, from the Foreword"Metrics and Models in Software Quality Engineering, Second Edition," is the definitive book on this essential topic of software development. Comprehensive in scope with extensive industry examples, it shows how to measure software quality and use measurements to improve the software development process. Four major categories of quality metrics and models are addressed: quality management, software reliability and projection, complexity, and customer view. In addition, the book discusses the fundamentals of measurement theory, specific quality metrics and tools, and methods for applying metrics to the software development process.New chapters bring coverage of critical topics, including: In-process metrics for software testingMetrics for object-oriented software developmentAvailability metricsMethods for conducting in-process quality assessments and software project assessmentsDos and Don'ts of Software Process Improvement, by Patrick O'TooleUsing Function Point Metrics to Measure Software Process Improvement, by Capers Jones In addition to the excellent balance of theory, techniques, and examples, this book is highly instructive and practical, covering one of the most important topics in software development--quality engineering. 0201729156B08282002