Over the past few weeks I have seen many blog posts and articles on key metrics and goals to set and track for various types of web sites, and there have been countless postings about what New Year’s resolutions people are setting.  If you think about it, the resolutions are really KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators), that most folks set as part of a yearly tradition, but there is often no plan put into place or any real means to track progress or completion of these personal and professional KPI’s.  As the expression goes, “those that fail to plan, plan to fail”.

James Dutton wrote a great article on his Insightr blog on creating a measurement plan, and I believe that most of the steps that he outlined can be taken and applied to your personal and professional goals as well.

His steps for creating a measurement plan are:

Stage 1: Set your objectives and parameters
Stage 2: Visualise your measurement scope
Stage 3: Identify metrics and dimensions (including external data)
Stage 4: Identify business and operational KPIs
Stage 5: Identify KPI analysis drilldowns
Stage 6: Map out your Data Sources
Stage 7: Propose processes for target and goal setting
Stage 8: Identify business owners and visualisation / sharing process
Stage 9: Distribute, gather feedback – then publish

The steps that are important for setting a personal & professional or individual measure plan is similar:

Step 1: Set your objectives
Step 2: Identify metrics and KPI’s
Step 3: Map out your Data Sources
Step 4: Define targets
Step 5: Identify support resources
Step 6: Gather results & share

I have combined a few of the items from original list, but the core of the steps to developing a measurement plan is there.  So now we have a list of the steps to create an individual measurement plan, but how do these steps translate into actionable items?

Step 1: Set your objectives

As with any task there is an ultimate goal, or a set of goals.  “I want to get more page views than any other web site in the world” or “I want to lose weight”.   They are the brass ring, the world series, or insert your favorite cliche here.  Nice and fun to put down, but often contain little substance that can truly be measured.  My objectives are no different.

Personal:

• Exercise more
• Read more
• Play more

Professional:

• Read more
• Improve development skills
• Improve analytics skills

These are nice, short, and fill the requirements of most New Years resolutions.  This is where the plan stops for most people, and why many people (myself included) have not been successful in the past with stopping here.

Step 2: Identify metrics and KPI’s

The objectives I have set for 2010 are fun to put down, but how can I track these?  What metrics can I define to provide a framework to track my success or failure?

Personal:

• Exercise more:  # of times walked per week
• Read more: # of non work related books read per month
• Play more: # of fun outings with family and friends per month

Professional:

• Read more: # of work related books read per month
• Improve development skills: # of code development events attended/viewed per month
• Improve analytics skills: # of analytic development events attended/viewed per month

Now I have a set of metrics that I can track and use to determine success.

Step 3: Map out your Data Sources

Unlike in the world of analytics there is not an easy way to automate the recording of data for most of my objectives.  However I can set up a few items that can help nudge me to record the data.  Nagware at it’s finest.   I have set up a spreadsheet with a column for each item and set a weekly alert in my calendar to pop up and remind me to enter the data.  It’s relatively low tech, but hopefully it will be effective.  Depending on the type of goals you set you might be able to automate your data collection.
Step 4: Define targets

Here is where the process gets fun.  What is your target for each metric?

Personal:

• Exercise more:  # of times walked per week (3)
• Read more: # of non work related books read per month (1)
• Play more: # of fun outings with family and friends per month (4)

Professional:

• Read more: # of work related books read per month (1)
• Improve development skills: # of code development events attended/viewed per month (3)
• Improve analytics skills: # of analytic development events attended/viewed per month (3)

Step 5: Identify support resources

Who are the people that can help you meet your targets?  What resources are out there that will help you with recording the data, or keeping you on track?  The answers to this are different for each person and each target, but it is crucial to determine what these are and to use them!
Step 6: Gather results & share

After you set your objectives, metrics, targets, and recorded all the data, share.  Write a blog post. Tweet about it. Post it on facebook.  Tell someone and enjoy the success or determine what steps you need to work on to get back on track.

My sharing plan?  I intend to blog here about my goals once a quarter.  Hopefully, I’ll be reporting good news!

Do you have a plan?

-Rudi