How to Measure Anything Workbook: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business

by Douglas W. Hubbard

The invaluable companion to the new edition of the bestselling How to Measure Anything This companion workbook to the new edition of the insightful and eloquent How to Measure Anything walks readers through sample problems and exercises in which they can master and apply the methods discussed in the book. The book explains practical methods for measuring a variety of intangibles, including approaches to measuring customer satisfaction, organizational flexibility, technology risk, technology ROI, and other problems in business, government, and not-for-profits. Written by recognized expert Douglas Hubbard―creator of Applied Information Economics― How to Measure Anything Workbook illustrates how the author has used his approach across various industries and how any problem, no matter how difficult, ill defined, or uncertain can lend itself to measurement using proven methods.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Management, Entrepreneurship, Design, Crafts, Leadership

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tour de force!
Every programmer should read this book.

Don't be afraid to skim when the math gets heavy! Hubbard explains the math concepts well, you don't need to follow along while he works the numbers out.

[Danny Hui · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review:
Have you ever heard someone say "it can't be measured"? Well, it turns out they were wrong. You can measure anything as long as you understand it, and use the tools and techniques outlined in this book.

What I remember (Spoilers):
This book is a text book on measuring. Measuring is key because if you don't know how much you have done it's very hard to know when you'll be done.

The book is broken into 4 parts:
Part 1: This section is about getting into the mindset that you can actually measure anything. The author shows many great examples of how things seemed impossible to measure were easily measured. I remember the example of how one Ancient Greek measure the size of the earth with incredible accuracy, simply using the sun and a stick. He was with in a couple of percent of the actual number and did this without satellites and computers.

Part 2: Is about preparation needed before you measure.
Know what you are really trying to measure is half the battle. What I remember from this section, was the calibrated estimates. Are you willing to put money on it? Even if it just pretends money. This will actually force the team to estimate with much more accuracy. When you put something on the line. This part also covers the concept of "Risk", just what is it, and why do we run our lives based on how "risky" things are. Can risk be measured? According to the author, it can.

Part 3: This section is all about the tools/method you can use to measure. I recall it's about using statistics and Bayes model. Random sampling. I remember the story about how to measure the number of fish in the lake. To do this, you take a random sampling one day. Catch X number of fish, tag these fish and release them back into the lake. The next day you come back, Catch X number of fish again. If Y number of fish have tags, then the number of fish is X / (Y/X). Which is pretty awesome!

Part 4: Going beyond the basics.
This section covers the softer side of measuring. The human component of it. Also the economics.


Comments:
This book was a game changer for me. I was always sure we could measure most things, but this book provided some great tools and examples to prove this was true.

[Felipe Moreira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Livro repleto de exercícios de análise quantitativa de riscos. Um prato cheio para viciados em planilhas de Excel, entusiastas de Probabilidade e Estatística e outros grupos de nerds (aos quais me incluo).

[Alireza Ahmadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the book because it gave me not just one but several new perspectives on decision-making and measurement. The book does a great job of defining what measurement is, It gives a very good picture of all the steps involved in data-driven decision-making, yet it goes further into some practical math to put everything into practice. It's not an easy book to read for sure but definitely worth the effort.

[Mohamed Elnazir · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book provided a highly technical approach and introduced concepts that emphasize the importance of measuring everything, even items that I previously believed were unmeasurable. It made me question my assumptions, particularly regarding upper and lower bounds. Additionally, the book guided me through a variety of statistical methods for quantitative measurement. Ultimately, it presented me with new concepts and a different mindset when evaluating aspects of my work.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this book 3.5 stars. After the introduction, the content gets dry very quickly. Management often labels something as intangible when it's difficult to measure. However, some measurement reduces uncertainty and increases the likelihood of better decisions. This book should have included more examples of measuring intangibles.

[Ali · Rating 1 out of 5]

Writer has some good points to share but his delivey id tribble. It is hard to read and sometimes you get totally lost. Not recommended.

[Omar Trejo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has good ideas for people not familiar with Statistics.

[Brandon W. King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! A must read for anyone in business, data analysis, or who wants to optimize something.

[Nada Abandah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked how this book both provides the theoretical framework, and provides practical implementation tools and steps to help setting the performance measures within the organization. I found the Excel sheets that were provided in the website very helpful as a base (but not as is) to create a corporate performance framework in my organization.

I recommend reading this book and using it as a reference.

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note to self: read through this book again. It is packed with quite a lot of good information, examples, and ideas. Truly a book for people with an economist mind. If you enjoy Freakonomics, consider reading this as a deeper dive into the math and the thinking behind the insights.

[Malcolm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aladdin's cave awaits but bring your best mind set.
You will only get rewards out of this catalyst text, based on a yield of what you put in.

[Matthew Mechtly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tremendous summary of how to measure attributes of a problem that could better inform decision making and the process of reducing uncertainty

[Nivedita Deshpande]

So far its been great. Such a great read to mull over the holidays.. More on this later.