PM ADVISORY:

Increasing Organizational Success Through Measuring: Triple-E Metrics

By Brian Vanderjack

USA

CONTEXT

I was heading into work on a cold, snowy Chicago morning. Just before I took the turn to a toll way entrance ramp, I realized I had to stop somewhere to buy windshield wiper fluid.  To explain, for those of you in warmer climates, if a truck’s tires throw a mixture of snow and road salt on your wind shield, you just can’t see clearly enough to drive.  Windshield wiper fluid is a must on days like this.  I was soon getting my work shoes cold and wet in the parking lot of a major department store, one of which you have most certainly heard.  Once I entered the store I stopped for a moment on the way in to listen to a manager’s meeting that happened to be taking place, right by the cash registers that lined the front of the store.  As I teach in an MBA program, I always avail myself of any opportunity to see managers in action as one never knows from where the material for my next lecture will come. 

Before these department managers (somewhat politely) shooed me away, I was very fortunate to have gotten the main idea of the conversation.   The chief manager was reading off sales results, per department - literally.  A captive group of 15 very bored managers were waiting, standing in a semi-circle, for the drone of the numbers to end so they could start their work day.

After I was back on the road to work, now with a full tank of wind shield wiper fluid (and unfortunately very wet shoes), something about this typical moment in American business began to bother me. 

What soon stuck me was the reason why the 15 department store managers were so bored.  It was that they, on some level, understood they did not actually have full control of the sales results, even though their culture instilled in them that they did.  They were actually being heavily judged on decisions, relating to price, product, promotion and place that were outside of their control.

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About the Author Brian Vanderjack Author Brian  Vanderjack, PMP, MBA is a full time project manager for AT&T, who manages projects in the service ordering, billing, VRU, and in the sales compensation area. His projects sometimes are worth over $1M/Month and his project teams consistently have more than twenty members.  He also teaches in the MBA program for the University of Phoenix and for PMCentersUSA.com. His shares what he has learned through public speaking.  He has won over 12 awards for public speaking, and has spoken at the Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of business, the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, the Michiana PMI Chapter and at the Microsoft User’s Group. One recent audience had over a thousand people in attendance. His career specific credentials include: Earning the AT&T’s Excellence in Project Management Award; Winning the teacher of the year at University of Phoenix face-to-face-teaching; over 200 instructors were eligible; Having graduated DePaul’s MBA program with honors; and Former CEO of SBC’s Project Management Network (2,000+ members) Brian has completed his first book which will be published soon.  Details are on his web site at LeadPresenter.com.  His next events are in November.  He will be providing a seminar at the University of Houston Clear Lake, on risk and quality (contact PMCentersUSA.com for details), and for Toastmasters International he will be providing a seminar on public speaking for people in leadership roles.