“Measurement is to an organization as Language is to a society”

Language communicates what is most important in a society and how we as individuals fit into it. Measurement does the exact same thing.

Like language, measurement has infinite dialects and subtext. When one realizes this, the act of measurement becomes an art. Just like mastering a new language, mastering the art of measurement becomes one of (if not the most powerful) of all the assets in your toolbox.

Generally when I am working with clients and we start talking about measurement, almost inevitably one of the “right brain” types pipes up and insists "numbers don’t lie" and that the "measurement is in the bottom line profit". I fully recognize this has validity but I view the bottom line profit as the result and not the measure. If organizations wait until they get their results to determine what needs to be done next, then that organization is in big trouble.

In general I have found most often that measurement is viewed as a discipline. It is quite often something that is imposed or insisted upon by management and shareholders. I rarely have seen a company be sustainable when measurement is enforced. Enforcement of measurement is usually done out of desperation. When I refer to desperation I mean the organization is in trouble and management is looking to increase “productivity” or “output”. Most often I see this as a case of managers and shareholders/investors confusing measurement with results.

Next post we will run through an exercise that can be used to build daily measurement into every position in an organization.

Evolution

As of tomorrow Sustainable Startup will be moving to a new platform. The new url is www.sustainablestartup.ca. That being said the existing posts and new updated posts will still be available here and on other platforms. You will also be receiving an email from steve@cameronchell.com updating you on any details and helping you with whatever it takes to make the move to the new site as seamless as possible. Steve is the newest member of our team and we affectionately refer to him as Colonel Cloud. This is due to his knowledge and use of cloud computing, of which given my history I to am a big fan of. Steve comes to us with a Bachelor of Management degree, a strong work ethic and a fresh perspective. Don't worry Erika is still here, her role has expanded in support of our clients and Sustainable Startup Bootcamp.

Two last items on the last dedicated blogger post. 1.) Sustainable Startup Bootcamp is on Friday September 25th. at 1:30pm -4:30pm at 3002 Ogden Rd. S.E. Please RSVP with Erika@cameronchell.com. 2.) Sustainable Startup has a fan page on Facebook. If you do a search within Facebook, "sustainablestartup" it will come up as the first search result. It is just getting started but your joining will help us evolve it to a useful place for your startup initiatives to flourish.

Draft One of the Book Outline

Back on April 22, 2009 I wrote about what I have seen as the five "must haves" to build a Sustainable Startup. In reviewing these it is clear to me they represent the first draft of the book outline. Certainly once we go through the clarity questions and the remaining steps as outlined in this blog but as it relates directly to the book the outline will become more detailed and robust. At this time however I think we should continue on the path of writing about what I am now referring to as the five steps to building a Sustainable Startup.

Draft one of the book outline: 5 Steps to Building a Sustainable Startup

Step 1. Clarity - being very clear on what we want to accomplish as opposed to what we think we want to accomplish.

Step 2. People - being able to identify who we need and not what we need.

Step 3. Working Plan - "The key to a plan working is not the plan but the process." - Chell, August 09

Step 4. Cash - prioritizing & maximizing your cash.

Step 5. Balance - Live within your means and pay yourself first.

This post completes our goal of having a draft outline for the Sustainable Startup book done by the end of August, (I know it is September 1st :-)

Next post we will continue with the second and third components of a Working Plan. Scalability and Measurability.