Measures of Success is about improving results by improving the way we interpret data. Too many organizations react to noise, chase arbitrary targets, and mistake random variation for meaningful change—creating fear, waste, and poor decisions instead of learning.
These posts explore better ways to use metrics through Lean thinking, statistical thinking, and Process Behavior Charts. Drawing heavily from the ideas in my book Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, this archive focuses on understanding variation, avoiding overreaction, and helping leaders ask better questions of their data—so improvement efforts are grounded in reality, not frustration.
TL;DR: Five years after the print release of Measures of Success, the core lesson still holds: reacting less to data and understanding variation leads to better leadership decisions–yet many organizations still struggle to apply this thinking consistently. Today is the…
A while back, I uploaded the entire PDF of my 2018 book, Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, into the premium version of ChatGPT (updated March 2026). Measures of Success is my 2018 book on metrics, Process…
I have a limited number of copies of my book Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More that are available for about half of the Amazon retail price — and this includes free shipping. CLICK TO BUY There’s…
tl;dr: Bowling charts encourage red-green reactions that hide real trends. Process Behavior Charts help leaders distinguish signal from noise and manage systems more effectively. Here is a LinkedIn Live event I did on Thursday at 11 am ET, with my…
Thanks as always to Ryan McCormack for this… there’s always so much good reading, listening, and viewing shared here by him! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. Insights about improvement, innovation, and leadership… Operational Excellence, Improvement, and…
Tomorrow is the 4th anniversary of the paperback release of my book Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More. Long story short, I’m running a limited-time sale to celebrate. Looking back to the release, I took an odd…
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #441 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is John Dues, an accomplished education systems leader and improvement science scholar-practitioner with more than two decades of experience in…
Thanks to Mark Gandy for inviting me to be on his podcast, “CFO Bookshelf.” You can listen using the streaming player, above, or you can read notes and more here: Measures of Success with Mark Graban Thanks so much to…
tl;dr Many data statements are factually true but practically meaningless. Two-point comparisons and color-coded dashboards hide whether anything has really changed. To know if performance is improving–or just fluctuating–you need to plot the dots and use Process Behavior Charts to…
I’ve been doing some radio interviews recently (as I blogged about here and here). The firm that helps line these up is very good at connecting topics I’d like to talk about, the “My Favorite Mistake” podcast and data-related topics…
tl;dr: Red/green metrics encourage snap judgments and overreaction. Process Behavior Charts provide context, separate signal from noise, and help leaders make better decisions that reduce wasted effort and drive real improvement. Thanks again to Prof. Eric Olsen for inviting me…
tl;dr: RAG and bowling charts trigger overreaction and hide real system behavior. Process Behavior Charts reveal whether performance is truly changing, helping leaders focus on causes instead of colors and make better improvement decisions. In my book Measures of Success:…
