Work vs. Progress
Measuring progress is a way to determine if an organization is meeting its goals, but it’s a tricky measurement because most workers measure tasks completed, not progress.
It’s important to decide whether or not a worker is task-oriented or progress-oriented to determine the best route to lean efficiency for any organization. Tasks are certainly measurable but is progress measurable? And, if progress is measurable, what are the standards of measurement for progress?
I really like this opinion piece written by Scott Berkun because it challenges current theories on management goal setting:
Giving people the tools to recognize when they’re wasting their time is one of the biggest obligations leaders have. A leader has to define a collective sense of progress that incorporates everyone’s contributions into a meaningful whole and strike a balance between something tangible enough for individual contributors to relate to, but broad enough to define a strategy for the team, organization or company.
You can read the article in its entirety here:
