The Short Answer

1. Identify the measures for which you currently have data.

2. Choose the most important using a forced choice process, asking: “If you had to talk about your program with just one of these circled measures, which one would it be?”

3. Identify your data development agenda using a forced choice process, asking: “If you could buy one of the measures for which you don’t have data, which one would it be?”

Full Answer

TECHNIQUE: How to select the most important “headline” performance measures: See 3.7 for steps 1, 2 and 3.

Step 4. HEADLINE MEASURES: Identify the measures in the upper right and lower right quadrants for which there is good data. This means decent data is available today (or could be produced with little effort). Circle each one of these measures with a colored marker. Ask “If you had to talk about your program with just one of these circled measures, which one would it be?” Put a star by the answer. Then ask “If you could have a second?” You should identify no more than 4 or 5 measures. And those should be a mix of upper right and lower right measures. These are a working list of headline measures for the program.

Step 5. DATA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA: Ask “If you could buy one of the measures for which you don’t have data, which one would it be?” Mark that with a different colored marker. “If you could have a second?” List 4 or 5 measures. These is the beginning of  your data development agenda in priority order.