Measuring metrics

A cynical thought from last week: In times of economic uncertainty, it should be technically impossible to go broke selling metrics. Namely because metrics bring back the sense (or, perhaps more likely, illusion) of knowledge, and with it the illusion of control. Problem is, to measure the metrics, you need more data, particularly contextual. And data tends to exist in inverse proportion to uncertainty, cancelling out the desperation driving the "need" for metrics.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not necessarily knocking all metrics, although I fervently believe that anyone who manages by them forfeits her/his title to "leadership." But I do view them with the proverbial jaundiced eye, and the foregoing is a good part of the reason.