Category Archives: Best Practices

Don’t Look Now!

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

One final lesson from “Freakonomics”, and then we’re done with Sumo wrestling. In the last post, we chatted about Sumo wrestlers who lost matches to help fellow wrestlers. The Japanese didn’t believe that Sumo wrestlers could cheat. Betraying their profession, … Continue reading →

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Win, Lose or Cheat!

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

If you’re setting up a system to track metrics, a big question is, “Will the people who are responsible for collecting the numbers do the job honestly and competently?” It’s a good question. I think in almost any situation, especially … Continue reading →

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Not All Numbers Are Equal!

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Managers that have moved away from management by instinct to management by metrics are often frustrated by the strange quirks and illogical results they get from their management reports. This can be terribly frustrating, because it takes a lot of … Continue reading →

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The Game Of Numbers

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

A lot of managers I speak with tell me that they haven’t yet set up the metrics and tracking systems that they need. Have you developed all the metrics you need? Does every product and service you produce have numbers … Continue reading →

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German & NYSE Exchanges to Merge, Will It Be Successful?

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

According to the Financial Times, the upcoming merger between the NYSE and German’s Bourse is expected to yield $400 million in merger, lower operating costs, cross selling, etc. Will they ever achieve their goal? More importantly, are they putting anything … Continue reading →

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God Bless You…Google?

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Over the last decade or more, there was a big movement towards capturing and standardizing internal data in all service groups. As professional managers, we’re all learning to make better use of data to manage our workers and their work product. … Continue reading →

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