Principlev1

When a measure becomes a performance target, immediately

When a measure becomes a performance target, immediately establish a paired outcome metric that the leading indicator was meant to predict, because optimization pressure severs the causal link between indicator and outcome.

Why This Is a Principle

Derives from When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good (Goodhart's Law) and Measurement of behavior changes the behavior being measured. (measurement changes behavior). This is an anti-Goodhart principle — a design rule for measurement systems that follows from how humans respond to being measured.

Source Lessons

L-0130

Leading indicators versus lagging indicators

The metrics that predict your future are different from the metrics that describe your past. Most people track the wrong ones — and by the time they notice, the future has already arrived.

Connections

Derived From (2)

AxiomMeasurement of behavior changes the behavior being measured.AxiomWhen a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good

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