Do your KPIs matter? AIM better!

on 10 October 0 Comment

So yeah I ended the last post pretty abruptly… let me expand it on it some more.

KPIs  Key Performance Indicators

Should they be the same year after year? Are the goals the same year after year?  Sure there are probably some overarching goals like make more sales. But what do sales numbers really mean as far as action items? What’s more impactful is tracking the metrics that support the strategies defined for the year with specific action. Knowing that sales is up or down is okay, but how do you know what to do about it? If you’ve built well-thought out action plans leading up to your strategy, for example – let’s sell more mattresses to people who haven’t replaced their mattress in over 10 years, then the metrics should be specific to that strategy. Get data on that target, create action items on how to sell to them, and then track those specific action items against the forecast. Don’t forget about context to easily see which path you are heading.

Another example – I would like to lose weight. I can weigh myself every day (eegads!), but that won’t help me. What will help is to write down that I am going to go swim every week day for 30 minutes, and track that. Hopefully that is a sound strategy and it can lead to dropping a few pounds. Then I can see clearly whether or not I am meeting the actions that will support my overarching goal, eventually impacting my original intention.

And you know I love acronyms, so here it is – AIM – Action Item Metrics

Create your charts with AIM and hit those targets. 🎯

Remember AIM!

Optimizing By Not Optimizing

on 23 September 0 Comment

I like to scroll and read, and come across a lot of nuggets that I think aha, and then forget about. Some things float to the top, and when they do, it’s really important to write them down in a good place because inevitably I’ll forget where to find them.

So today, I went back and retrieved some of these –

https://hbr.org/2023/06/to-build-a-top-performing-team-ask-for-85-effort
Came across this by scrolling through LinkedIn, thanks to the network for highlighting this. You never know how much impact the ripple effect, especially among the lurkers.

By accepting that we don’t have to be “ON” all the time, not 110%, not 200%, which aren’t even mathematically realistic, and knowing that you have some room for errors, downtime, doesn’t change anything and yet changes everything.

I took a business class flight (which sparked a new youtube channel) with my daughter for the first time (a 16-hr flight to put in context), and of course the first thing that came to mind was if the extra cost was worth it.  Which brought back to mind another quote I’ve read in James Clear’s Atomic Habits newsletter email –

Sasha Aickin, former CTO at Redfin, shares some financial advice from his grandmother:

“When you buy something cheap and bad, the best you’re going to feel about it is when you buy it. When you buy something expensive and good, the worst you’re going to feel about it is when you buy it.”

Source: Groupon’s Success Disaster

It comes back to optimizing at 85% or 100%. There will be times when we ‘lose’ money because we didn’t buy something on sale, bought something that didn’t fit, paid for a service not rendered. We can stress about it or accept it, focus on doing better, and spend on items that we actually would enjoy which is a form of optimization.

Power BI (yeah I will tie it back to Power BI :D), is usually enlisted for reports that show optimization. And to optimize this, go beyond the typical metrics and focus on the factors that will make an impact.

I am here to Optimize.
I am here to Optimize.

Keep it Simple with KISMET

on 04 July 0 Comment

Again and again, Keep it Simple makes a comeback. It’s back at work, and this morning I read this paragraph while scrolling –

“The one thing that everyone that hikes the Camino de Santiago does is to start out carrying too much stuff with us in our packs. There is nothing like walking miles and miles with a loaded backpack to help you figure out what is really important enough to carry on your back day after day, mile after mile.”
~Dennis Welton~

I did this when designing my first Power BI reports. I threw in all sorts of ways users could filter and manipulate the data and charts. And then through time and feedback, began to whittle down the options, remove pages and charts that weren’t being utilized. It was a learning process for both me as the designer and for the audience. The report viewers also needed to understand what was indeed useful for them, and not just what they thought they would want. In the end, the reports became simpler to update, use, understand and maintain.

So Keep it Simple. It’s good to drop the Stupid that was once there. Keeping it simple is actually the opposite. It shows mastery, empathy, and talent. And since I love acronyms, I’m going with this new one – KISMET.

  • Keep
  • It
  • Simple (with)
  • Mastery – knowledge of the subject matter is key
  • Empathy – understand your audience
  • Talent – leverage tools to their potential

 

Hello Spring! (Write it down #wid)

on 08 April 0 Comment

Well, it’s been a hot minute since the last post. Or a hazy winter. Whatever ideas I had in mind and meant to post have all just become dust in the wind.  Which brings me to the importance of writing it down #wid!

No matter how much you know something, write it down, if not for yourself, but for the people who around you, and those who come after you. What seems crystal clear at this very moment, will draw blanks at another time.  In fact, I just walked into the dining room to write a post (the computer is set up in the dining room of course), and promptly forgot why as I got distracted by a wet table that needed to be wiped down. Perks of getting older.

3 Reasons to write it down – #wid

  1. You’ll forget
  2. You won’t be always around to tell people who need to know
  3. Sharing is caring
Illustration of frustrated developer
Write it down! #wid

 

 

 

 

Holidaze

on 26 December 0 Comment

Holiday week for kids and some parents, hopefully a relaxing(?!) time???  Maybe, maybe not.  If not, perhaps a time of reflection of how to lessen the (self-imposed?) stresses of the holidays.  Starting with gift giving!  It reminds me of this recent post from Bas (highly recommend to follow his accounts linked below if you are into Power BI) about whether certain Power BI reports should exist.

Similar points can be made about gifts –

  • Does it make the receiver’s life better?
  • Is it better than what the receiver already has?
  • Does the value to the receiver outweigh the maintenance?

Sometimes less is more…

 

  https://www.youtube.com/@HowtoPowerBI

  https://twitter.com/HowToPowerBI

  https://www.linkedin.com/in/basdohmen/

Thanks for Giving

on 26 November 0 Comment

A post to be thankful for all the resources available with just some keystrokes!  Sometimes you are at 99% of your project being complete but you just need that extra bit of functionality to make it work.  And thanks to the internet, and the info sharing community, finding solutions is just that much easier.

So my turn to share a simple solution of how to Automatically Refresh Calculated Fields in SharePoint Lists. Surprisingly, calculated fields do not refresh unless there is a change to the list item.
examples:

  • Calculating a ‘Status’ based on some date conditions
  • Calculating the number of days it took a list item from start to completion

Using Power Automate, it’s possible to have a recurring task that will update respective list items in order to recalculate those fields with just a few steps –

  1. Create a hidden column – format as ‘Date’.  In this example, the field is named ‘Refresh’
  2. Determine which existing columns will serve as the criteria in your situation – the example will use the item Status (‘field_7’)
  3. Create a new flow in Power Automate
    • Use a recurring schedule.
    • Get Items and filter the query to the items to be recalculated
    • Update Items (adding ID from Dynamic Content will ‘Apply to each’) with today’s date (Expression ‘utcNow()’) in the hidden ‘Refresh’ field.  This also serves as a way to confirm that the flow works.

Be mindful that these list items will then show a modification date by the flow owner.

Hope this helps!

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