1st Edition
The Performance Paradox Understanding the Real Drivers that Critically Affect Outcomes
By Jerry L. Harbour
Copyright 2009
192 Pages
75 B/W Illustrations
by
Productivity Press
192 Pages
by
Productivity Press
Also available as eBook on:
How does performance improve? A simple yet often unexplored question. To quantify it, it must be measured. To measure it, it must be understood. The good news is that once we actually examine how to test performance, a number of basic principles and natural laws emerge. Principles and laws with universal applications across diverse subjects, and when correctly applied, not only unravel the... Read more
Seeking What Is True
Checking Our Assumptions
R&D Spending
Healthcare and Life Expectancy
Bombing Precision
e-Learning
Dollars Spent Equals Games Won
Performance Paradoxes
Summary
Performance as Subject and Why x Matters
Defining Performance
Developing a Performance Equation
Taking the Equation One Step Further
Understanding the Three Types of x Variables
Adding Oomph to Your Performance Equation
From Sea to Land
Small Round Balls That Fly
Things That Go Boom
The Power of Good Logic
Creating Task Models
Summary
S-Curves and Performance Limits
Performance Improves Exponentionally
Normal Curves
S-Shaped Curves and Logistic Functions
The Limits of Performance
Projecting Unrealized Performance Capacity
Summary
How Innovation (Sometimes) Begets Improvement
Overlapping S-Curves and What They Mean
About Innovation
Innovation Types
Type I Innovations
Type II Innovations
Type III Innovations
Type IV Innovations
Innovation and Performance Gains
Biological and Technological Evolution
The Role of Innovation Shifts
Summary
Modeling Performance
The Dilemma of Safety versus Productivity
Models: Definitions and Characteristics
Performance Models
Modeling Case Study
Outlining the Case Study Steps
The Value of Performance Modeling
Value to the Oakland A’s
Value to the U.S. Military
Some Limitations of Performance Modeling
Summary
Measuring Performance
Some Definitions and General Observations about Performance
Measures
Descriptive Measures
Predictive Measures
Prescriptive Measures
Models of Performance Should Drive Measures of Performance
Units of Measurement
Interpreting Measures of Performance
SPOTC Measures of Performance
Summary
Improving Performance
Capacity Matters
Realizing Unrealized Performance Capacity
Model- and Measurement-Based Performance Improvement
Improving SPOTC Performance
Summary
Performance: A Summary
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Checking Our Assumptions
R&D Spending
Healthcare and Life Expectancy
Bombing Precision
e-Learning
Dollars Spent Equals Games Won
Performance Paradoxes
Summary
Performance as Subject and Why x Matters
Defining Performance
Developing a Performance Equation
Taking the Equation One Step Further
Understanding the Three Types of x Variables
Adding Oomph to Your Performance Equation
From Sea to Land
Small Round Balls That Fly
Things That Go Boom
The Power of Good Logic
Creating Task Models
Summary
S-Curves and Performance Limits
Performance Improves Exponentionally
Normal Curves
S-Shaped Curves and Logistic Functions
The Limits of Performance
Projecting Unrealized Performance Capacity
Summary
How Innovation (Sometimes) Begets Improvement
Overlapping S-Curves and What They Mean
About Innovation
Innovation Types
Type I Innovations
Type II Innovations
Type III Innovations
Type IV Innovations
Innovation and Performance Gains
Biological and Technological Evolution
The Role of Innovation Shifts
Summary
Modeling Performance
The Dilemma of Safety versus Productivity
Models: Definitions and Characteristics
Performance Models
Modeling Case Study
Outlining the Case Study Steps
The Value of Performance Modeling
Value to the Oakland A’s
Value to the U.S. Military
Some Limitations of Performance Modeling
Summary
Measuring Performance
Some Definitions and General Observations about Performance
Measures
Descriptive Measures
Predictive Measures
Prescriptive Measures
Models of Performance Should Drive Measures of Performance
Units of Measurement
Interpreting Measures of Performance
SPOTC Measures of Performance
Summary
Improving Performance
Capacity Matters
Realizing Unrealized Performance Capacity
Model- and Measurement-Based Performance Improvement
Improving SPOTC Performance
Summary
Performance: A Summary
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Jerry L. Harbour
