Today in history:  John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth

John Glenn's Wiki Page

As we remember the heros of spaceflight living, let's pause for those who are no longer with us

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Braun Tacon

Einstein had the words “Not everything which can be measured counts, and not everything which counts can be measured” on the desk in his office at Princeton.

With that in mind, here are some of my thoughts on the topic of metrics and measurement from an ITIL 3 Service Design point of view.

Measurement Design: The last of the five Service Design principles and is arguably one of the most important. It is said, "…if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it"!

Good Measurement Design should deliver metrics that reflect specific and defined requirements or outcomes which demonstrate the quality and success of the design processes from the perspective of the business, customers and users and that your delivered solution meet thier requirements. Below are some considerations to insure that your Metrics Design will deliver Measurements that meet expectations and objectives:

• Do you have measurements in place that demonstrate that your design solutions are "fit for purpose"? In other words do they meet or exceed requirements?
• Do you have measurements in place that demonstrate that your design solutions are developed with the appropriate level of quality; neither over-engineered nor under-engineered?
• Do you have measurements in place that demonstrate that your design solutions are "right first time" and that they meet their expected targets?
• Do you have measurements in place that measure with the goal of insuring that your design solutions minimize the amount of "rework" or "bug fixes" that have to be rapidly developed after your solutions have been deployed?
• Finally, do you have measurements in place that demonstrate that your design solutions have the ability to meet the agreed-to requirements of the business?

It is clear from the above that metrics should be more than just numbers on a page.  When designing your metrics, "...begin with the end in mind" so as to understand upfront exactly what it is that you want to measure and what the desired outcomes of those measurements are to be. By doing this your efforts become more than just colorful graphs on a PowerPoint slide. Instead they become a powerful tool that will provide you, your customers, and your organization real, quantifiable and actionable measurements to gauge the quality of your Services and your level of Customer Satisfaction and ultimately to drive Continuous Service Improvement.

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Braun Tacon