Goodharts’s law states “when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” Performance metrics are never accurate because as soon as they’re recognized as such, people start gaming them. 1/2
Charles Goodhart was an economist, which is to say we can apply economic principles to team and organizational dynamics. It’s a field that software ppl often don’t look at. Other economists (like Danial Kahneman) are well worth reading [e.g. amzn.to/3dOq0IQ]. 2/2
@allenholub Goodheart's Law has a lot of interesting ramifications if we intend to improve. @realMikeRother's Improvement Kata, for example, has a goal that we approach incrementally. You must have some indicator whether you're succeeding in approaching that goal. 1/5
Goodheart implies that any such goal set by management, along with a metric for success, will subvert the improvement process. 2/5
Management simply cannot get the results they want if they set explicit goals or establish metrics for success. It follows that the only way to improve is for the teams themselves to do it. 3/5
You don't game your own metrics if they are entirely internal to the team (and private). The instant management gets involved, however, Goodheart's Law goes into effect and real improvement won't happen. 4/5
The other issue is that the indicators of success do not have to be metrics. In fact, you could argue that they should never be metrics. Look for qualitative criteria, like a change in culture or customer happiness, as indicators of success. 5/5
