How to Measure Anything
Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business
2nd Edition
Published on 14. May 2010
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-470-53939-2 (ISBN)
Description
Now updated with new research and even more intuitive explanations, a demystifying explanation of how managers can inform themselves to make less risky, more profitable business decisions
This insightful and eloquent book will show you how to measure those things in your own business that, until now, you may have considered "immeasurable," including customer satisfaction, organizational flexibility, technology risk, and technology ROI.
* Adds even more intuitive explanations of powerful measurement methods and shows how they can be applied to areas such as risk management and customer satisfaction
* Continues to boldly assert that any perception of "immeasurability" is based on certain popular misconceptions about measurement and measurement methods
* Shows the common reasoning for calling something immeasurable, and sets out to correct those ideas
* Offers practical methods for measuring a variety of "intangibles"
* Adds recent research, especially in regards to methods that seem like measurement, but are in fact a kind of "placebo effect" for management - and explains how to tell effective methods from management mythology
Written by recognized expert Douglas Hubbard-creator of Applied Information Economics-How to Measure Anything, Second Edition illustrates how the author has used his approach across various industries and how any problem, no matter how difficult, ill defined, or uncertain can lend itself to measurement using proven methods.
More details
Edition
2., Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
Chichester
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
Revised edition
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 23.1 cm
Width: 16.4 cm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
501 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-470-53939-2 (9780470539392)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Book
04/2014
3rd Edition
Wiley
€51.00
Shipment within 15-20 days
Previous edition
Book
08/2007
1st Edition
Wiley
€34.90
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
DOUGLAS W. HUBBARD is the inventor of Applied Information Economics (AIE), a measurement methodology that has been used in IT portfolios, entertainment media, military logistics, R&D portfolios, and many more areas where big decisions are based on factors that seem difficult or impossible to measure. He is an internationally recognized expert in metrics, decision analysis, and risk management, and is a popular speaker at numerous conferences. He has written articles for InformationWeek, CIO Enterprise, Architecture Boston, Analytics and OR/MS Today and is also the author of The Failure of Risk Management: Why It's Broken and How to Fix It.
Content
Foreword.
Preface.
Acknowledgments.
Section One: Measurement: The Solution Exists.
Chapter 1: Intangibles and the Challenge.
Yes, I Mean Anything.
The Proposal.
Chapter 2: An Intuitive Measurement Habit: Eratosthenes, Enrico, & Emily.
How an Ancient Greek Measured the Size of Earth.
Estimating: Be Like Fermi.
Experiments: Not Just for Adults.
Notes on What to Learn from Eratosthenes, Enrico, & Emily.
Chapter 3: The Illusion of Intangibles: Why Immeasurables Aren't.
The Concept of Measurement.
The Object of Measurement.
The Methods of Measurement.
Economic Objections to Measurement.
The Broader Objection to the Usefulness of "Statistics".
Ethical Objections to Measurement.
Toward a Universal Approach to Measurement.
Section Two:Before You Measure.
Chapter 4: Clarifying the Measurement Problem.
Getting the Language Right: What "Uncertainty" and "Risk" Really Mean.
Examples of Clarification: Lessons for Business from, of All Places, Government.
Chapter 5: Calibrated Estimates: How Much Do You Know Now?
Calibration Exercise.
Further Improvements on Calibration.
Conceptual Obstacles to Calibration.
The Effects of Calibration.
Chapter 6: Measuring Risk through Modeling.
How Not to Measure Risk.
Real Risk Analysis: The Monte Carlo.
An Example of the Monte Carlo Method and Risk.
Tools and Other Resources for Monte Carlo Simulations.
The Risk Paradox and the Need for Better Risk Analysis.
Chapter 7: Measuring the Value of Information.
The Chance of Being Wrong and the Cost of Being Wrong: Expected Opportunity Loss.
The Value of Information for Ranges.
The Imperfect World: The Value of Partial Uncertainty Reduction.
The Epiphany Equation: How the Value of Information Changes Everything.
Summarizing Uncertainty, Risk, and Information Value: The First Measurements.
Section Three: Measurement Methods.
Chapter 8: The Transition: From What to Measure to How to Measure.
Tools of Observation: Introduction to the Instrument of Measurement
Decomposition.
Secondary Research: Assuming You Weren't the First to Measure It.
The Basic Methods of Observation: If One Doesn't Work, Try the Next.
Measure Just Enough.
Consider the Error.
Choose and Design the Instrument.
Chapter 9: Sampling Reality: How Observing Some Things Tells Us about All Things.
Building an Intuition for Random Sampling: The Jelly Bean Example.
A Little about Little Samples: A Beer Brewer's Approach.
Statistical Significance: A Matter of Degree.
When Outliers Matter Most.
The Easiest Sample Statistics Ever.
A Biased Sample of Sampling Methods.
Measure to the Threshold.
Experiment.
Seeing Relationships in the Data: An Introduction to Regression Modeling.
Chapter 10: Bayes: Adding to What You Know Now.
Simple Bayesian Statistics.
Using Your Natural Bayesian Instinct.
Heterogeneous Benchmarking: A "Brand Damage" Application.
Bayesian Inversion for Ranges: An Overview.
Bayesian Inversion for Ranges: The Details.
Section Four: Beyond the Basics.
Chapter 11: Preference and Attitudes: The Softer Side of Measurement.
Observing Opinions, Values, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
A Willingness to Pay: Measuring Value via Trade-offs.
Putting It All on the Line: Quantifying Risk Tolerance.
Quantifying Subjective Trade-offs: Dealing with Multiple Conflicting Preferences.
Keeping the Big Picture in Mind: Profit Maximization versus Subjective Trade-offs.
Chapter 12: The Ultimate Measurement Instrument: Human Judges.
Homo Absurdus: The Weird Reasons behind Our Decisions.
Getting Organized: A Performance Evaluation Example.
Surprisingly Simple Linear Models.
How to Standardize Any Evaluation: Rasch Models.
Removing Human Inconsistency: The Lens Model.
Panacea or Placebo?: Questionable Methods of Measurement.
Comparing the Methods.
Chapter 13: New Measurement Instruments for Management.
The Twenty-First-Century Tracker: Keeping Tabs with Technology.
Measuring the World: The Internet as an Instrument.
Prediction Markets: A Dynamic Aggregation of Opinions.
Chapter 14: A Universal Measurement Method: Applied Information Economics.
Bringing the Pieces Together.
Case: The Value of the System That Monitors Your Drinking Water.
Case: Forecasting Fuel for the Marine Corps.
Ideas for Getting Started: A Few Final Examples.
Summarizing the Philosophy.
Appendix: Calibration Tests (and their answers).
Answers to Calibration Questions in Chapter 5.
Additional Calibration Tests.
Index.