The Tyranny of Metrics

How the obsession with quantifying human efficiency threatens enterprise, medication, training, authorities―and the standard of our lives

Right this moment, organizations of every kind are dominated by the assumption that the trail to success is quantifying human efficiency, publicizing the outcomes, and dividing up the rewards primarily based on the numbers. However in our zeal to instill the analysis course of with scientific rigor, we have gone from measuring efficiency to fixating on measuring itself―and this tyranny of metrics now threatens the standard of our organizations and lives. On this temporary, accessible, and highly effective ebook, Jerry Muller uncovers the harm metrics are inflicting and reveals how we are able to start to repair the issue. Full of examples from enterprise, medication, training, authorities, and different fields, the ebook explains why paying for measured efficiency does not work, why surgical scorecards might improve deaths, and far more. However Muller additionally reveals that, when used as a complement to judgment primarily based on private expertise, metrics will be helpful, and he contains a useful guidelines of when and the way to use them. The result’s a necessary corrective to a dangerous development that more and more impacts us all.