Part 5 (1/2)

Surveys are probably thetool They are used in research (Gallup Polls), predictive analysis (exit polls during elections), feedback gathering (custo analysis (like the surveyers walking in shopping raphic data gathering (the US census) Surveys are used whenever you want to gather a lot of data fro a key component Surveys, by nature, involve people

The best use of surveys is when you are seeking the opinions of the respondents Any ti” someone for infor autoh/total objectivity), surveys by nature are highly/totally subjective So, the best use of the survey is when you purposefully want subjectivity

Custoood exa analysis If you want to know if soreat way to find out is to ask Surveys, in one way or another, collect your opinion I lu under surveys-even if you don't use a ”survey tool” to gather theroups, and interviews fit under surveys We'll cover the theories behind the types of surveys and survey methods later

Use People

So far I've reco human provision of data when accuracy is essential I've also said that when you want an opinion, you want (have) to use huathering data other than opinions? What happens when you use people because you can't afford an automated solution or an autoet to the gyy sheet on a clipboard He'll visually count the number of people on the basketball courts He'll then take a count of those using the aerobic ht machines, and finally the elevated track He'll also check the locker room, and a female coworker will check the woets injected into this process? Besides siine how the counter canhis transition between rooms, areas, and floors of the facility, the staff member is likely to miss patrons and/or count someone more than once (for example, Gym-User A is counted while on the basketball court, and by the tiets to the locker rooain) Yet, it's not economically feasible to utilize autoe by area

We readily accept the inherent inaccuracy in the huathered for: How critical is it to have a high degree of accuracy in our data?

Is high accuracy worth the high cost?

How important is it to have the data at all? If it's acceptable to sih esti humans because we need huenerates the data A good example is the IT help desk Since you choose to have a human answer the trouble call (vs an automated system), much of the data collected (and later used to analyze trends and predict proble the phone Even an ”autoenerated and sent to callers) is dependent on the technician correctly capturing each phone caller's information

Another Example

I want to provide you another example of how to develop a metric This one is from a work experience

I once worked with a web and teleconferencing technician His boss wanted to know the answer to the following question: ”Is the service hile to maintain?” The technician's service cost the amount of a full-salaried employee, plus expensive equipment, a dedicated room, and monthly fees The boss wanted to know if the costs orth the benefits

By now you're probably de that I define ”the service,” ”hile,” and ”maintain” You should be! The service could be all for that requires the technician's ti fee If the teleconference method is a sunk cost and doesn't require intervention by the technician, thisis ”hile”-what exactly do we mean? Is it sioodwill count? Do employee productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency matter? And finally, what do we mean by maintain? To have it at all? To pay the salary of the technician? To have our own facility vs using a contracted or hosted solution? Does ”rades to software? How about repairs and replacements?

Once we have clear definitions for the terms that make up the root question, ill have a uage It is equally ie used to create the root question

Figure 2-2 shows the picture the technician and I drew of his servicevalue The picture we drew depicts the value gained (costs avoided) by using the web-conferencing systes (travel and hotel costs), tis (fuel consumption and CO2 emissions), and the happiness of the clients ere able to more easily meet ”face-to-face” with others These factors would be compared to the actual costs incurred

This is not a perfectin my experience You can't prove that the costs would have been incurred without the syste that if we didn't have telephones, rite or visit faorically say this would happen, for the purposes of deter the avoided costs, or the value of the service, we have to make these assu questions-seeking definitions for all of the parts of the root question The definitions led us to the following information decision (we only wanted to answer one aspect of the root question): How much do we save? How much money, jet fuel, CO2 e the conferencing center? This clarification made the next phase purposeful Rather than chase all manner of data, we could focus our efforts only on the ned : The amount of time saved for each conference The amount of money saved for each conference Travel funds saved (plane fare and taxis) Hotel funds (when the distance dictates an overnight stay)

The amount of CO2 emissions saved for each conference

Data

To build the : Locations participating in the web/teleconference

Number of participants at each location

Distance from each location to the ”host” location For purposes of the metric, we had to determine a ”host” location that participants would travel to If our location were the host, ouldn't gain the savings-but our colleagues could clai is held at location X (because of protocol, for exa point

If protocol doesn't dictate a specificlocation-then which location has the most participants Plane fare amounts to and from the host location The CO2 ehts If the location is not at an airport: The distance to the location froround travel frohtly cost of a hotel room at the host site At international locations At domestic locations The cost for the web/teleconference A syste fees A system with annual fees The salary of the technician

The amount of time the technician spends on each conference

The total nuood example of how to build from a root question to an abstract picture and finally to the data, measures, and information needed to tell the story The best part of this exah, is that it was created to satisfy the request of the service provider Our webconferencing technician requested thehiet rid of the service,” that I wasn't going to hide the results He agreed Partly because he is a loyal employee-and if the data accurately showed that it was not worth the cost, he'd be the first to advocate dropping the service And partly because he ”knew” that the service was a hile one He knew the worth of it since he worked with it every day

The service provider usually already knows the answers that you'll build metrics to validate

This metric is published quarterly to show the benefits of web/teleconferencing for the organization

Recap

In this chapter, we covered the following: Getting to the root question: It is iet to the root question before you start even ”thinking about” data The root question will help you avoid waste To get to the real root, I discussed using Five Whys, facilitating group interventions, and being willing to accept that the answer may not include metrics Make sure you define every facet of the question so you are perfectly clear about what you want

Testing the root question: I provided soestions on how you can test if the question you've settled upon is a true root question Even with the tests, it's important to realize that you may not have reached it when you draw your picture Youa metric: This is more about what you shouldn't do than what you should You shouldn't think about data You shouldn't design charts and graphs You shouldn't ju an artist: The best way I've found to stay abstract is to be creative The best way to be creative is to avoid the details and focus on the big picture One helps feed the other Draw a picture-it doesn't have to be a work of art

Identifying the information, measures, and data needed: Once you have a clear picture (literally and figuratively) it's time to think about information, measures and data Think of it like a paint-by-numbers picture What information is required to fill the picture in? What color paints will you need? And make sure you don't leave out any essential co measures and data: Now that you knohat you need, how do you collect it?