Targets are all SMART, let’s make measures VVAPID

For many years I have been told that targets should be SMART. This means they should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed. Well actually, all targets are already SMART:

Simplistic
Meaningless
Arbitrary
Road blocks
Torture

Simplistic

Targets are simplistic. Targets are a sledgehammer to crack a nut and they come with no context or method. Targets are imposed by managers and governments and they walk away thinking by setting a target that their job is done.

Meaningless

Targets don’t have any relation to the system they are meant to apply to. They can’t have. Targets are not related to purpose. Hitting or missing a target does not give you any new information. Having a target set does not give you any new method to improve it simply gives you something to focus on. And not anything useful. Aiming for a target does not give staff or managers any new understanding of the system. They will be so absorbed trying to hit the target they may well be even more oblivious of what is happening around them.

Arbitrary

An understanding of variation gives the insight that any level at which you set your target is wrong. A study of common cause variation for any measure will give you upper and lower limits within which the system will exhibit predictable variation. Setting a target above or below the limits means the target will always/never be hit (depending on whether higher or lower is better or worse). Setting the target at a level between the limits means that it is virtually random whether the target will be hit in any given period. Therefore there is no reliable way to set a target and hence all targets are arbitrary.

Road Blocks

Targets distract from genuine improvement by sapping energy toward the collecting, analysis and reporting of useless data. Worse, targets also actively get in the way and drag down performance. Think of the 4 hour A&E target that induced one hospital trust to keep patients in ambulances outside A&E, only letting them in once they were sure they could hit the target. Schools are measured and ranked on exam results and so they cheat to get the brightest children in their intake. This is not improving education for all, this is a road block to improving education.

Torture

Targets mean pressure to achieve meaningless, arbitrary, numbers. This is tortuous for staff, managers and inspectors alike.

Staff are judged, rated and rewarded by whether they hit arbitrary targets. They know that they have to apply their minds to hitting the targets when that means they have to degrade overall performance to do so. When staff have to cheat to hit targets that has an effect on morale, self-esteem and respect for their managers who are putting them in the position of having to do these things.

Managers are ravaged by the constant hitting and missing of targets in a seemingly random way. They can never seem to get a good explanation about why a target was missed even though when it is hit they tell everyone they can.

Inspectors often know that what they are doing is ruinous to the performance of the organisation that they are trying to judge. They know that most of the time they are simply assessing compliance to a standard and not looking at an intrinsic ability to give good service. This knowledge must eat away at a person.

Targets are tortuous to users. Using a target driven service will be boring, annoying, frustrating and perhaps dangerous and yet they will be constantly being told that the organisation is hitting or making good progress toward its targets.

So let’s get rid of this culture of the target, SMART or otherwise, and move toward measures that are VVAPID.

Value
Variation
Aligned
Purpose
Informative
Deliver

Best,

Rob