Track, Measure, Report

Pearson’s Law. Carl Pearson, later known as Karl Pearson (1857–1936) was an influential English mathematician who is credited for coining the following phrase…

“That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.”

It’s clear that W. Edwards Deming used the same approach when he revolutionised the Japanese automotive industry.

The principle of track and measure is one of the most powerful that any human being, organisation and Team can apply.

In sales we typically talk of track and measure. And whilst creatives like me aren’t huge fans of reports, I should clarify that, I am not a fan of labouring through useless reports that don’t focus on high impact areas.

If you want to improve any area of your life, any area that can make a high impact on your life, simply find the most simple measurements you wish to track and report it.

Almost anything in life can be measured. And with all the technology we have at our disposal these days, there’s really no excuse. But don’t let lack of technology be the excuse either. A pen and a paper is all you need. Simply write down your daily results and track your progress. Reading a report that contains the right KPI’s (key performance indicators) can be a great motivator.

A positive KPI report will give you greater encouragement as you see the progress with your own eyes. A negative one can also be powerful as it drives you to get back on track.

A good reporting system will give you this feedback sooner rather than later too. People who fail to track, measure and report often find themselves miles off course because they are not getting regular feedback.

Take the advice of Pearson and ingrain this practice into your brain…

“That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.”

Leave a comment and let me know what you do with this.

Scott