Measurement need not be complicated, although over time you will likely develop increasingly sophisticated ways of keeping a eye on every aspect of your business. Over the coming weeks and months, we will cover some suggestions in more detail through dedicated entries on these topics.
But beyond the what of what you are measuring is the when. Measurement must take place at several frequencies in order to be effective. The best way to illustrate why this is important is through an example: let's use trouble resolution, a central help desk feature.
For this example, we'll assume that troubles are tracked through a trouble ticketing system of some sort. We'll cover trouble ticketing in general and in terms of specific products in the future, but for now what is important is that every trouble ticket has a start time, an end time (when the ticket was closed and the problem was resolved) and a variety of information about the customer and the problem in question. At any given time, there are potentially many trouble tickets open, with new tickets being opened and open tickets being closed regularly.
Now, back to measurement. Measurement of the trouble resolution performance of your help desk is the goal, but where do you begin? Here are a few important statistics to start with:
- How many tickets are currently open?
- Which tickets have been open too long?
- Who in the team is the most and least effective at dealing with tickets?
- As frequently as possible.
- Daily.
- Weekly.
- Monthly.
While not every permutation of statistic and measurement frequency provides value, many do, making it important to consider all possible combinations when defining your measurement strategy.
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