Three Reasons to Avoid Using Indexes and Scores

YouTube (4:14 min.)

Stacey Barr

You might think that rolling up your performance measures or KPIs into a weighted score or composite index is a great strategy to simplify your dashboard, to deal with lots of measures, or to create proxies for intangible goals. Think again. They hide the real problem of too many measures, they hide the real signals of change, and they hide the results you are trying to monitor. 

What Counts as Evidence in the Eyes of Policymakers?

Public Administration Review

What counts as evidence depends on the context, the nature of the questions that are being addressed, and the evidence that is available. Policy actors’ perceptions of what counts as evidence often change as their careers progress, and are influenced by the roles they take on, the organizations they work in, and the policy issues they work on.

Federal Agencies Can Better Measure Performance of Innovation Offices

U.S. Government Accountability Office

Federal regulators of financial institutions have offices dedicated to financial innovation and technology, but they don’t have performance goals and measures for this work. GAO offers recommendations for action.

Seven Things to Know About Outcome-Based Contracting

Centre for Public Impact

The evidence shows that outcome-based contracting (sometimes called outcome-based performance management or payment by results) doesn’t produce good outcomes in real life. This article lists seven things you should know about outcomes-based contracting based on the extensive research evidence about these practices.