Measuring productivity and quality for bonuses?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Lois Patterson reports: <<I've looked at metrics threads in the archives,
but did not really come up with a good answer.>>

That's because there aren't any good answers--that is, there's no "one size
fits all" answers. Each situation is different, and requires a different
solution.

<<Any ideas for how productivity, quality, and timeliness can be measured in
real terms for the sake of awarding bonuses on the basis of these metrics?>>

Once you define what response you wish to get from the people being
measured, and provide appropriate carrots and sticks, that's precisely the
response you're going to get from the people you are measuring. For example,
if your metric is "fewer typos", and you start with a current count of typos
per page, providing appropriate rewards will encourage people to use their
spellchecker. That's probably useful. <g> Conversely, if you specify more
pages written per day, any writer worth their salt will immediately start
increasing the line spacing in their templates, using five words where one
would do, and never revising their documents for conciseness. That's
probably far less useful. <g>

The only really good answer for producing good metrics is that you must
begin by understanding what you're trying to improve. If you can't define
that thing well enough to quantify it, you don't understand that goal well
enough to be trying to assess it with a metric. It really is that
simple--and that complex.

So, let's turn the question around: How do you define quality? What aspects
of quality are you trying to reward? Tell us that, and we can begin
suggesting ways to approach a metric that will satisfy you and your
colleagues.

--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada 
"User's advocate" online monthly at
www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/usersadvocate.html
"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is
noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience,
which is the bitterest."--Confucius, philosopher and teacher (c. 551-478
BCE)


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