Excerpted From The Musing: "Being Able To Laugh"
Metrics: Do They Always Measure Up?
Metrics are everywhere! Today we measure all kinds of things with a speedometer, an odometer, a thermometer, an ergometer, etcetera. In our business and personal worlds these past few years, we are hearing (and learning) constantly about metrics. Business and personal quotes about metrics abound:
“What gets measured gets done.”
- Attributed to Tom Peters, Peter Drucker, W. Edwards Deming
“What you need to do is get that tape measure out, and start measuring that gut. Then you start working out and you start eating properly till that gut gets down close to what it was when you were in your 20’s. Then you’ll find out what your weight should be.” - Jack LaLanne
Since I continually measure my business numbers, I recently decided to apply that same discipline to the personal side of my life. I invested in a pedometer to see if Jack LaLanne was right. The instructions with the pedometer suggested it requires about 6,000 steps a day to maintain a constant weight, and about 10,000 to lose weight. After several days of measuring my steps, I noticed I was having a modicum of success with this little device and was quite proud of my numbers, both on the pedometer and on the scale. Then one morning, while rushing to the airport to catch a plane, I noticed that the count-per-step seemed a little “off.” I had walked for one hour and it said I had only walked 500 steps, versus the day before when it registered 3,500 steps for the same activity.
After 11 hours of travel in bad weather, I finally arrived at my destination and went to the baggage claim to retrieve my luggage.
As I (and 100 other frazzled passengers) stood there waiting, a piercing alarm began to sound on the loud speakers. Passengers covered their ears and asked airport personnel to stop the noise. They tried everything but could not find the source of the racket. An airport employee walked past me and said: “I think it’s you that’s causing this!” And I said, “Me? I’m just standing here waiting for my bag like everyone else.” A man next to me said he had experienced a similar situation in the past when the battery of a passenger’s hearing aid ran down, setting off a low-battery warning signal. That signal then entered a feedback loop to the airport’s loud speaker system, setting off a similar type of noise.
After I got my luggage and began walking down a desolate hallway towards my car, I realized that the deafening noise was still around me. It was then that I realized: “The Pedometer!” I quickly removed it from my belt and the noise got even louder! I thought for sure airport security would surround me — but there was no one in sight. My morning hunch about the pedometer malfunctioning had proven true — and now this 4-inch pedometer had somehow set off the alarm system throughout the airport terminal! I hurried to turn it off, but nothing happened. The battery was affixed by a screw and was inaccessible without a screwdriver. I quickly got into my car to get away from the airport, but the noise continued. I then made one of the best metric decisions of my life: I stopped the car, put the pedometer under the front tire, and drove over it!!!
Finally, there was “Peace on Earth”! Needless to say, it was welcome music to my ears. I laughed all the way home while thinking back to the consternation and annoyed looks on the faces of those passengers in baggage claim. The next morning, I stepped on another measurement device — the scale — and was pleased about what it showed without the noise!
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
- Henry David Thoreau
“What gets measured gets done.”
- Attributed to Tom Peters, Peter Drucker, W. Edwards Deming
“What you need to do is get that tape measure out, and start measuring that gut. Then you start working out and you start eating properly till that gut gets down close to what it was when you were in your 20’s. Then you’ll find out what your weight should be.” - Jack LaLanne
Since I continually measure my business numbers, I recently decided to apply that same discipline to the personal side of my life. I invested in a pedometer to see if Jack LaLanne was right. The instructions with the pedometer suggested it requires about 6,000 steps a day to maintain a constant weight, and about 10,000 to lose weight. After several days of measuring my steps, I noticed I was having a modicum of success with this little device and was quite proud of my numbers, both on the pedometer and on the scale. Then one morning, while rushing to the airport to catch a plane, I noticed that the count-per-step seemed a little “off.” I had walked for one hour and it said I had only walked 500 steps, versus the day before when it registered 3,500 steps for the same activity.
After 11 hours of travel in bad weather, I finally arrived at my destination and went to the baggage claim to retrieve my luggage.
As I (and 100 other frazzled passengers) stood there waiting, a piercing alarm began to sound on the loud speakers. Passengers covered their ears and asked airport personnel to stop the noise. They tried everything but could not find the source of the racket. An airport employee walked past me and said: “I think it’s you that’s causing this!” And I said, “Me? I’m just standing here waiting for my bag like everyone else.” A man next to me said he had experienced a similar situation in the past when the battery of a passenger’s hearing aid ran down, setting off a low-battery warning signal. That signal then entered a feedback loop to the airport’s loud speaker system, setting off a similar type of noise.
After I got my luggage and began walking down a desolate hallway towards my car, I realized that the deafening noise was still around me. It was then that I realized: “The Pedometer!” I quickly removed it from my belt and the noise got even louder! I thought for sure airport security would surround me — but there was no one in sight. My morning hunch about the pedometer malfunctioning had proven true — and now this 4-inch pedometer had somehow set off the alarm system throughout the airport terminal! I hurried to turn it off, but nothing happened. The battery was affixed by a screw and was inaccessible without a screwdriver. I quickly got into my car to get away from the airport, but the noise continued. I then made one of the best metric decisions of my life: I stopped the car, put the pedometer under the front tire, and drove over it!!!
Finally, there was “Peace on Earth”! Needless to say, it was welcome music to my ears. I laughed all the way home while thinking back to the consternation and annoyed looks on the faces of those passengers in baggage claim. The next morning, I stepped on another measurement device — the scale — and was pleased about what it showed without the noise!
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
- Henry David Thoreau