Customer Reviews

Keeping Score: Using the Right Metrics to Drive World-Class Performance

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4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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Substantially Unsubstantial

Keeping Score is a good high-level review of the importance of metrics in strategy-driven organizations. Brown employs Kaplan & Norton's balanced scorecard methodology to illustrate the relationship between measurement and strategy. He doesn't really deliver much more than you would find in Kaplan & Norton's classic Balanced Scorecard book. I would like to have seen more suggested metrics around the various "themes": financial performance, customer satisfaction, product/service quality, process and operation performance, supplier performance, and employee satisfaction. I know macro- and micro-metrics are organization-specific; however, there are "generic" financial and satisfaction metrics he could offer. The Measurement System Self-Assessment 50 -item survey illustrated in the book is a great resource. It can easily be customized, automated and administered to stakeholders responsible for developing measurement systems. I applaud Brown for consistently reinforcing the formative rather than purely summative evaluation model. That is, any measurement system must contain historical (lagging), current, and forecasting (leading) measures. Those systems that are driven by summative data (i.e., historical) do not serve the real purpose of a measurement system, which is to allow stakeholders to make well-informed and better business decisions. Oftentimes, Brown downplays the complexity of developing and implementing a measurement system. He makes statements such as "Measurement is easy" and "Designing your own new and improved measurement system may not be a much work as you think..." These kinds of statements are worrisome and misleading because developing a robust measurement system aligned with organizational strategy is no simple feat. Nor, should it be. One extremely important area that is only slightly addressed is that of system maintenance and integrating the system into business processes. Once a measurement system has been established clear guidelines should be established as to how the data will be employed and used to make decisions. A truly strategic organization will incorporate the measurement system into the daily operations of the organization.

Being a Baldrige examiner, Mark Graham Brown has a good handle on this subject matter. What he's been able to do is create a masterful work on the business of keeping score. He makes you think in a standardized way. Plus he gives you enough real life examples to get your creative juices flowing. He has also included a good evaluation tool. Great book to consider as a REFERENCE and also as a TEACHING TOOL. Good enough to be used as a teaching tool for a whole staff of people given some good facilitation.

This book is easy to read. There are no jargons or unfamiliar terms. The author gives many examples of how some corporations set metrics and measure them. However, unfortunately, you find in many cases that the author says "this is difficult to measure" or "this is one of the most difficult to measure". This book is a bit less useful than I expected.

I ordered Mark Graham Brown's "Keeping Score" just as I got involved with a Balanced Scorecard implementation. As we worked through the process of designing our internal scorecard I found this slim volume (<200 pages) an invaluable aid. From the introduction through to the last chapter, I found this book full of practical ideas and advice. For instance, one of my personal pet peeves is the short shrift most larger companies give to the value of their people. In chapter 10: "Measuring Employee Satisfaction", Mr. Brown addresses topics such as the short-sightedness of improving profits through downsizing and how a balanced scorecard can help underline this mistake. He ends the book with a practical 10 item list "The Key To Successful Plans". After all the theory, I was glad to have a roadmap handy. I'd recommend this book to anybody who is contemplating a new scorecard, or rehabbing an existing one.

I am bought into the philosophy that the ability to effectively measure operational performance is key to achieving excellence. Unfortunately, this book provides little useful information. This is one of those 'advocacy supersedes real content' books.

Fed up with the passive measures of achievement we have been using (which were a whole lot better than the NONE we used to use), I bought about a dozen books on the subject. I started with this one first because it is thin, well organized, easy to read and, even though it is not sufficiently oriented to manufacturing firms to completely satisfy my interests, gives enough examples to stimulate development of measures specifically applicable to my Company. I also liked the discussion of corporate mission, corporate vision, key success factors and the development of indicators and goals which address these factors.

Mark Graham Brown truly rams home the point of using appropriate metrics for measuring performance. This book is replete with anecdotal examples of how organizations can go wrong by not thinking out thoroughly what they are measuring. However, although numerous examples are provided of what to avoid, not enough are given of what to actually do. The ones that do, are fragmented with bits and pieces derived from a variety of corporations. In the later chapters, when Brown wants to illustrate the linkage of the measurements in a Balanced Scorecard to vision and strategy, the readers would have been better served if he had taken the example of one company and followed it through. Nevertheless, the book is a great introduction to the concept and points out useful questions an organization needs to ask itself in putting together its own scorecard. I am looking forward to a sequel that will more specifically describe how this can be achieved.

I've read all of Mark Graham Brown's books and been through a couple of his workshops. He always nails the topic and this book is no exception.

This book shows you how to pinpoint key measures, evaluate your measurement approach, and redesign inadequate metrics. I find it a very useful guide for my executive coaching and consulting practice.

The author makes a number of important points in this book. There is an emphasis on the few key measures that matter, linked to strategy and stakeholder needs. As to their characteristics, he recommends metrics that provide a view of the past, present and future. While it is relatively easy to develop metrics with a focus on the past or present, developing future oriented metrics is a little more difficult. Unfortunately no generally applicable guideline seems to exist.

One very good aspect of "Keeping Score" is the presence of summaries at the end of each of the chapters of part 2, telling you how successful organisations measure performance in the areas of finance, quality, suppliers, customer satisfaction, processes/operations and employee satisfaction. Whether or not you currently have a system in place, you're likely to find more than a few useful ideas here.

This was the first book that I have read on metrics. Not that I'm a complete newb to them, but it is an entry-level view at them. Multiple times this book references Kaplan/Norton's The Balanced Scorecard which I am currently going through right now for more meat and potatoes on the subject.

This is a nice quick read for a quick start.