Plato's Dashboards
I&#x27;ll barge in and say that there&#x27;s this meme in business schools that: &quot;what gets measured, gets done.&quot;<p>They&#x27;re mostly there to serve as the source of truth, whether or not a specific manager is getting a bonus (and by how much).<p>Generally, the best metrics are &quot;based in reality&quot; (and usually revolve around inflow and outflow of money) -- but those are hard to fudge, without playing accounting games, and even harder to meet (it takes actual skill, rather than being able to pass the buck endlessly for a couple of years, before moving onto another org); so you may find it common for the managerial horde to pick &quot;bullshit metrics&quot; to cover their own asses (doubly so, if the metrics are decided by committee).<p>There&#x27;s no reason for practical metrics to exist in most large corporations -- the incentives just aren&#x27;t aligned. Bonuses are decided by metrics (and anyone who has a modicum of intuition, will always pick the metric that can be most gamed for himself, and his underlings). Also, if we&#x27;re being real with ourselves, there&#x27;s very little that managers &quot;control,&quot; so picking a &quot;real&quot; metric would just breed an environment that selects for luck (or lies).<p>In my opinion, the only useful metric is profit generated. Everything else is just an emotional safety blanket for uncertainty.