Are Metrics Good or Evil?

People are constantly trying to measure something but are metrics good or evil? The answer can go either way depending on how you look at it.

Metrics can be evil when:

• You try to measure data that is invalid and/or inaccurate
• You try to measure one data set to another that is not the same and/or have no correlation to each other
• You try to point fingers instead of trying to find the root cause

Metrics can be good when:

• You try to measure data that is valid and can be proven
• You try to measure one data set to another, which will help determine trends and good comparison
• You try to determine the root cause of an issue by looking at the overall picture

In the end:

You can decide by:

• Setup multiple data pulls and review the data. Just because the data can be pulled from a system does not mean it’s accurate.
• Take a data set from one area/application and another data set from another area/application that has the same data types from another and compare them against each other. Check to see if the data points line up. Review the sections where the data lines up AND look at the sections where they don’t.
• Have data pulled multiple times (hourly/daily/weekly/monthly) to see if there are any consistent trends occurring. These trends could be good or evil but you will have the ability to see it visually.

Do you think metrics are good or evil? Were there times that you felt metrics leaned one way versus another?