How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business

by Douglas W. Hubbard

• ISBN13: 9780470173978
• ISBN10: 0470173971
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2007-10-01
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Praise for How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business "I love this book. Douglas Hubbard helps us create a path to know the answer to almost any question in business, in science, or in life . . . Hubbard helps us by showing us that when we seek metrics to solve problems, we are really trying to know something better than we know it now. How to Measure Anything provides just the tools most of us need to measure anything better, to gain that insight, to make progress, and to succeed." -Peter Tippett, PhD, M.D. Chief Technology Officer at CyberTrust and inventor of the first antivirus software "Doug Hubbard has provided an easy-to-read, demystifying explanation of how managers can inform themselves to make less risky, more profitable business decisions. We encourage our clients to try his powerful, practical techniques." -Peter Schay EVP and COO of The Advisory Council "As a reader you soon realize that actually everything can be measured while learning how to measure only what matters. This book cuts through conventional clichés and business rhetoric and offers practical steps to using measurements as a tool for better decision making. Hubbard bridges the gaps to make college statistics relevant and valuable for business decisions." -Ray Gilbert EVP Lucent "This book is remarkable in its range of measurement applications and its clarity of style. A must-read for every professional who has ever exclaimed, 'Sure, that concept is important, but can we measure it?'" -Dr. Jack Stenner Cofounder and CEO of MetraMetrics, Inc.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Measurement: The Solution Exists

The Intangibles and the Challenge

An Intuitive Measurement Habit: Eratosthenes, Enrico & Emily

How an Ancient Greek Measured the Size of the Earth

Estimating: Be like Fermi

Experiments: Not just for adults

Notes on What to Learn from Eratosthenes, Enrico and Emily

The Illusion of Intangibles: Why Immeasurables Aren't

The Concept of Measurement

The Object of Measurement

The Methods of Measurement

Economic Objections to Measurement

The Broader Objection to the Usefulness of & "Statistics". Ethical Objections to Measurement

Toward A Universal Approach to Measurement

Before You Measure

Clarifying the Measurement Problem

Getting the Language Right: What Uncertainty and Risk Really Mean

Examples of Clarification: Lessons for Business from, of all places, Government?

Calibrated Estimates: How Much Do You Know Now?

Calibration Exercise

Further Improvements on Calibration

Conceptual Obstacles to Calibration

The Effects of Calibration

Measuring Risk: Introduction to the Monte Carlo

An Example for Monte Carlo and Risk

Tools and other Resources for Monte Carlo Simulations

The Risk Paradox

Measuring the Value of Information

The Chance of Being Wrong and The Cost of Being Wrong: Expected

Opportunity Loss

The Value of Information for Ranges

The Imperfect World: The Value of Partial Uncertainty Reduction

The Epiphany Equation: The Value of a Measurement Changes Everything

Summarizing Uncertainty, Risk and Information Value: The first measurements

Measurement Methods

The Transition: From What Measure to How to Measure

Tools of Observation: Introduction to the Instrument of Measurement

Decomposition

Secondary Research: Assuming You Weren't the First to Measure It

The Basic Methods of Observation: If One Doesn't Work, Try the Next

Measure Just Enough

Consider the Error

Choose and Design the Instrument

Sampling Reality: How Observing Some Things Tells Us about All Things

Building an Intuition for Random Sampling: The Jelly Bean Example

A Little About Little Samples: A Beer Brewers Approach

The Easiest Sample Statistics Ever

A Sample of Sampling Methods

Measure to the Threshold

Experiment

Seeing Relationships in the Data: An Introduction to Regression Modeling

Bayes: What You Know Now

Simple Bayesian

Using Your Natural Bayesian Instinct

Heterogeneous Benchmarking: A "Brand Damage" Application

Getting a Bit More Technical: Bayesian Inversion for Ranges

Beyond the Basics

Preference & Attitudes - The Softer Side of Measurement

Observing Opinions, Values, and the Pursuit of Happiness: The Basics

A Willingness to Pay: Measuring Value via Trade Offs

Putting it all on the Line: Quantifying Risk Tolerance

Quantifying Subjective Tradeoffs: Dealing with Multiple Conflicting Preferences?

Keeping the Big Picture in Mind: Profit Maximization vs. Subjective Tradeoffs

The Ultimate Measurement Instrument - Human Judges

Homo Absurdus: The Weird Reasons Behind Our Decisions

Getting Organized: A Performance Evaluation Example

Surprisingly Simple Linear Models

How to Standardize Any Evaluation: Rasch Models

Removing Human Inconsistency: The Lens Model

Panacea or Placebo?: Questionable Methods of Measurement

Comparing the Methods

New Measurement Instruments for Management

The 21st Century Tracker: K

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