How to measure what matters

written by  Ryan Seamons

What you measure matters. The most important way to spent your time is to figure out what’s the most important way to spend your time.

Most teams don’t spend enough time thinking and rethinking what success looks like. Too often we accept the existing narrative, whether that’s what those around us are saying/doing or a solution we stumbled on and now think is the only possible path forward.

Frameworks + Practices

Some measurements frameworks you may find useful to help determine what success looks like:

Even beyond a framework, I’ve found that the practice to use is to take time to pause, think, and write things down. Then have some open conversations with colleagues and mentors. Time to reflect is one of those important, non-urgent tasks.

Measurement is about questions

All measurement comes down to asking questions. The better questions you ask (and the more you question initial assumptions), the more likely you’ll identify meaningful measures that drive real success.

Some of my favorite questions about success include:

  • What does wild success look like?
  • If money weren’t an option, what would you do?
  • Why do you want to create that?
  • Who could you talk to that would increase the likelihood of that working?
  • Have you written that down?

About the Author



Ryan Seamons
writes about more human approaches to modern management.

Join Patterns for weekly ideas about making work better.

Also check out Manager School to become a better manager.