- OUTCOMES: Or Key Results. What metric(s) will best show the final state you want to be in AND progress toward that target level of performance?
- LEAD MEASURES: Or Leading Activities that will most likely lead to the Key Results or Outcomes you want. The metrics that measure the Leading Activities are typically at a more rapid cycle time than the outcome based metric.
At the cash flow level, if you want to improve your Cash Metric to 100% or better, the first activity that must be controlled is the monthly billing performance of the projects.
No amount of excellence in collections will help you get close to 100% if you are continuously under-billed on your Work-in-Progress (WIP) as a whole.
Metrics alone WILL NOT change your outcomes; they will simply let you know the score. The most important aspect of this is the regular Operating Rhythm that reinforces a rigorous PDCA cycle each period, similar to what the Last Planner System does at the project level.
