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

How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business [Kindle Edition]

Douglas W. Hubbard
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Review

"How to Measure Anything was already my favorite book (just ahead of Hubbard′s second book, The Failure of Risk Management) and one I actively promote to my students and colleagues. But the Second Edition, improving on the already exquisite first edition, is and achievement of its own. As a physicist and economist, I applied these techniques in several fields for several years. For the first time, somebody wrote together all these concerns on one canvas that is at the same time accessible to a broad audience and applicable by specialists. This book is a must for students and experts in the field of analysis (in general) and decision–making."
—Dr. Johan Braet, University of Antwerp. Faculty of Applied Economics, Risk Management and Innovation

"Now, performance measures can be defined for even the most difficult problems. Doug Hubbard′s book is a marvelous tutorial on how to define sound metrics to justify and manage complex programs. It is a must read for anyone concerned about mitigating the risks involved with Capital Planning, Investment Decisions and Program Management."
Jim Flyzik, former Government CIO, White House Technology Advisor and CIO Magazine Hall of Fame Inductee

Praise from How to Measure Anything, First Edition

"I love this book. Douglas Hubbard helps us create a path to know the answer to almost any question, in business, in science or in life...Hubbard helps us by showing us that when we seek metrics to solve problems, we are really trying to know something ′better than we know it now,′ to put something into context, to find insight to help us get our jobs done, to be more successful, to discover things, or to build things. How to Measure Anything provides just the tools most of us need to measure anything better, to gain that insight, to make progress, and to succeed."
Peter Tippett, Ph.D., M.D., Chief Technology Officer at CyberTrust and inventor of the first antivirus software

"Interestingly written and full of case studies and rich examples, Hubbard′s book is a valuable resource for those who routinely make decisions involving uncertainty. This book is readable and quite entertaining, and even those who consider themselves averse to statistics may find it highly approachable."
Strategic Finance

"Hubbard has made a career of finding ways to measure things that other folks thought were immeasurable. Quality? The value of telecommuting? The risk of IT project failure? the benefits of greater IT security? Public image? He says it can be done—and without breaking the bank.... If you′d like to fare better in the project–approval wars, take a look at this book."
ComputerWorld, August 2007

"I use this book as a primary reference for my measurement class at MIT. The students love it because it provides practical advice that can be applied to a variety of scenarios; from aerospace & defense, healthcare, politics, etc."
Ricardo Valerdi, PhD, Lecturer, MIT

"This book is remarkable in its range of measurement applications and its clarity of style. A must–read for every professional who has ever exclaimed, ′Sure, that concept is important, but can we measure it?′
Dr. Jack Stenner, Cofounder and CEO of MetaMetrics, Inc.

Product Description

Now updated with new research and even more intuitive explanations, a demystifying explanation of how managers can inform themselves to make less risky, more profitable business decisions

This insightful and eloquent book will show you how to measure those things in your own business that, until now, you may have considered "immeasurable," including customer satisfaction, organizational flexibility, technology risk, and technology ROI.

  • Adds even more intuitive explanations of powerful measurement methods and shows how they can be applied to areas such as risk management and customer satisfaction
  • Continues to boldly assert that any perception of "immeasurability" is based on certain popular misconceptions about measurement and measurement methods
  • Shows the common reasoning for calling something immeasurable, and sets out to correct those ideas
  • Offers practical methods for measuring a variety of "intangibles"
  • Adds recent research, especially in regards to methods that seem like measurement, but are in fact a kind of "placebo effect" for management – and explains how to tell effective methods from management mythology

Written by recognized expert Douglas Hubbard-creator of Applied Information Economics-How to Measure Anything, Second Edition 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.


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Douglas W. Hubbard
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Vicky J
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an imaginative approach to a familiar topic in advanced business planning and management science. The uses of surrogates, analogies and reflections are all well covered. The intuitive content is more limited but that is understandable. There are few questions which are fluffed: for example, how to measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign? No one has answered this satisfactorily before, so the "failure" here is not a deal-breaker.

The writing style is reader-friendly and almost always correct in grammar, syntax and spelling - to an American standard of course. It comes across as an authoritative primer and guidebook, and also a thought-provoker. I actually enjoyed reading it; never mind the clever and innovative content.

It would make a useful standard text for courses in corporate strategy, management sciences and managerial economics. I shall recommend it.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Just buy it. 12 July 2011
Format:Hardcover
If you're reading this page it's likely you have some interest in management or decisions or measurement. That's enough data for me to make this recommendation with confidence:
Just buy it.

You can find a summary of the contents from Amazon's "Inside this book", or from other reviews, but it's unlikely you'll guess from the chapter headings the scale of the impact this book should have. In the preface Douglas Hubbard says that while writing he `imagined it would be a small "scientific" revolution of sorts for managers - a distant cousin of the methods of "scientific management" introduced a century ago by Frederick Taylor.' That's not a small ambition, but it's realistic.

This is a book that will almost certainly change the way you think about measurement, about decisions, and about the data you need for management. It's a threshold, before-and-after, book.

In short Douglas Hubbard's work is a cross-disciplinary triumph. He has combined techniques, research and insights from psychology, mathematics and economics to produce a practical, coherent method for tackling problems and making decisions anywhere, especially where stakes are high and results uncertain.

Some of the methods he describes are decades old and may be familiar to specialists in decision science but most are not widely known or employed among general managers and public administrators. Douglas Hubbard makes three significant contributions. First he makes an array of powerful tools accessible and shows how they are relevant for almost any big decision. Secondly, he offers a clear systematic framework that shows managers and public administrators how to deploy those tools. Thirdly, he demonstrates how we can approach management with a discipline as rigorous as those we use for the best science or medicine.

It's an exciting prospect. Mr Hubbard began developing his approach working on IT investments but he gives examples from a wide variety of industries and his method is equally relevant to all areas of management. It will make an especially revolutionary difference when this kind of discipline begins to be used in public policy decisions.

Order two copies. When you finish the book you'll want to give it to at least one friend or colleague, but you need to keep one for yourself.
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By Rolf Dobelli TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
Finding the answers to most questions usually begins with measuring. But when it comes to answering questions that plague business and society - Will this new product succeed? Will that company fail? How valuable is a human life? - the usual tools of measurement fall short. Metrics expert Douglas W. Hubbard offers a logical, reasoned explanation of how to assign a dimension to anything, especially intangibles or "soft" issues. He makes a strong case for why failing to measure such issues can lead to unsatisfactory or even disastrous decisions. His straightforward approach to the sometimes off-putting field of statistics will appeal to even the most numerically challenged. getAbstract recommends his advice to anyone charged with making critical decisions.
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Popular Highlights

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&quote;
Rule of Five There is a 93.75% chance that the median of a population is between the smallest and largest values in any random sample of five from that population. &quote;
Highlighted by 372 Kindle users
&quote;
Clarification Chain 1. If it matters at all, it is detectable/observable. 2. If it is detectable, it can be detected as an amount (or range of possible amounts). 3. If it can be detected as a range of possible amounts, it can be measured. &quote;
Highlighted by 350 Kindle users
&quote;
Four Useful Measurement Assumptions 1. Your problem is not as unique as you think. 2. You have more data than you think. 3. You need less data than you think. 4. An adequate amount of new data is more accessible than you think. &quote;
Highlighted by 337 Kindle users

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