From market research to information technology to financial reporting, How to Measure Anything reveals the power of measurement to our understanding of business and the world at large. This insightful and eloquent book will show you how to measure those things in your own business that, until now, you may have considered "immeasurable," including customer satisfaction, organizational flexibility, technology risk, and technology ROI.

With examples ranging from how a marine biologist measures the population of fish in a large lake to how the United States Marine Corps found out what really matters in forecasting fuel requirements for the battlefield, you will discover a "universal approach" to measuring "intangibles," along with some interesting methods for particular problems.

Here, you will learn about:

• The Illusion of Intangibles: Why Immeasurables Aren't

• Calibrated Estimates: How Much Do You Know Now?

• Measuring Risk: Introduction to the Monte Carlo

• Sampling Reality: How Observing Some Things Tells Us about All

• Unconventional Measurement Instruments such as the internet, human judges, prediction markets, and more

• Measuring the Value of Information: What's It Worth to Measure?

Written by recognized expert Douglas Hubbard—creator of Applied Information Economics—How to Measure Anything illustrates how the author has used his approach across various industries and how any problem, no matter how difficult, ill defined, or uncertain can lend itself to measurement using proven methods. Direct and easy-to-follow, How to Measure Anything is a resource no manager or executive can afford to be without.

"After reading Hubbard's excellent book on 'How to Measure Anything', I was able to immediately solve several measurement challenges for my CEO and Business Owner colleagues. It should be on every manager's desk." (Amazon.com; 10/07)

"…the book for anyone who wants to know how to measure the value of information or any other intangible asset." (Computer Weekly, Tuesday 18th September 2007)

"Hubbard has made a career of finding ways to measure things that other folks thought were immeasurable. Quality? The value of telecommuting? The risk of IT project failure? the benefits of greater IT security? Public image? He says it can be done — and without breaking the bank. Many IT steering committees won't approve projects that "can't be measured," so it behooves CIOs to figure this out! ...... If you'd like to fare better in the project-approval wars, take a look at this book." (ComputerWorld, 8/07)

"… allows [companies] to measure performance in such diverse areas as customer satisfaction, employee morale, quality and organisational flexibility." (CPO Agenda, Autumn 2007)

"I love this book. Douglas Hubbard helps us create a path to know the answer to almost any question in business, in science, or in life . . . Hubbard helps us by showing us that when we seek metrics to solve problems, we are really trying to know something better than we know it now. How to Measure Anything provides just the tools most of us need to measure anything better, to gain that insight, to make progress, and to succeed."

—Peter Tippett, PhD, M.D., Chief Technology Officer at CyberTrust, and inventor of the first antivirus software

"Doug Hubbard has provided an easy-to-read, demystifying explanation of how managers can inform themselves to make less risky, more profitable business decisions. We encourage our clients to try his powerful, practical techniques."

—Peter Schay, EVP and COO of The Advisory Council

"As a reader you soon realize that actually everything can be measured while learning how to measure only what matters. This book cuts through conventional clichés and business rhetoric and offers practical steps to using measurements as a tool for better decision making. Hubbard bridges the gaps to make college statistics relevant and valuable for business decisions."

—Ray Gilbert, EVP Lucent

"This book is remarkable in its range of measurement applications and its clarity of style. A must-read for every professional who has ever exclaimed, 'Sure, that concept is important, but can we measure it?'"

—Dr. Jack Stenner, Cofounder and CEO of MetraMetrics, Inc.

Acknowledgements.

Section I. Measurement: The Solution Exists.

Chapter 1. The Intangibles and the Challenge.

Chapter 2. An Intuitive Measurement Habit: Eratosthenes, Enrico & Emily.

How an Ancient Greek Measured the Size of the Earth.

Estimating: Be like Fermi.

Experiments: Not just for adults.

Notes on What to Learn from Eratosthenes, Enrico and Emily.

Chapter 3. The Illusion of Intangibles: Why Immeasurables Aren't.

The Concept of Measurement.

The Object of Measurement.

The Methods of Measurement.

Economic Objections to Measurement.

The Broader Objection to the Usefulness of & "Statistics".

Ethical Objections to Measurement.

Toward A Universal Approach to Measurement.

Section II. Before You Measure.

Chapter 4. Clarifying the Measurement Problem.

Getting the Language Right: What Uncertainty and Risk Really Mean.

Examples of Clarification: Lessons for Business from, of all places, Government?

Chapter 5. Calibrated Estimates: How Much Do You Know Now?

Calibration Exercise.

Further Improvements on Calibration.

Conceptual Obstacles to Calibration.

The Effects of Calibration.

Chapter 6. Measuring Risk: Introduction to the Monte Carlo Simulation.

An Example for Monte Carlo and Risk.

Tools and other Resources for Monte Carlo Simulations.

The Risk Paradox.

Chapter 7. Measuring the Value of Information.

The Chance of Being Wrong and The Cost of Being Wrong: Expected.

Opportunity Loss.

The Value of Information for Ranges.

The Imperfect World: The Value of Partial Uncertainty Reduction.

The Epiphany Equation: The Value of a Measurement Changes Everything.

Summarizing Uncertainty, Risk and Information Value: The first measurements.

Section III. Measurement Methods

Chapter 8. The Transition: From What Measure to How to Measure.

Tools of Observation: Introduction to the Instrument of Measurement.

Decomposition.

Secondary Research: Assuming You Weren't the First to Measure It.

The Basic Methods of Observation: If One Doesn't Work, Try the Next.

Measure Just Enough.

Consider the Error.

Choose and Design the Instrument

Chapter 9. Sampling Reality: How Observing Some Things Tells Us about All Things.

Building an Intuition for Random Sampling: The Jelly Bean Example.

A Little About Little Samples: A Beer Brewers Approach.

The Easiest Sample Statistics Ever.

A Sample of Sampling Methods.

Measure to the Threshold.

Experiment.

Seeing Relationships in the Data: An Introduction to Regression Modeling.

Chapter 10. Bayes: Adding to What You Know Now.

Simple Bayesian.

Using Your Natural Bayesian Instinct.

Heterogeneous Benchmarking: A "Brand Damage" Application.

Getting a Bit More Technical: Bayesian Inversion for Ranges.

Section IV. Beyond the Basics.

Chapter 11. Preference & Attitudes - The Softer Side of Measurement.

Observing Opinions, Values, and the Pursuit of Happiness: The Basics.

A Willingness to Pay: Measuring Value via Trade Offs.

Putting it all on the Line: Quantifying Risk Tolerance.

Quantifying Subjective Tradeoffs: Dealing with Multiple Conflicting Preferences?

Keeping the Big Picture in Mind: Profit Maximization vs. Subjective Tradeoffs.

Chapter 12. The Ultimate Measurement Instrument - Human Judges.

Homo Absurdus: The Weird Reasons Behind Our Decisions.

Getting Organized: A Performance Evaluation Example.

Surprisingly Simple Linear Models.

How to Standardize Any Evaluation: Rasch Models.

Removing Human Inconsistency: The Lens Model.

Panacea or Placebo?: Questionable Methods of Measurement.

Comparing the Methods.

Chapter 13. New Measurement Instruments for Management.

The 21st Century Tracker: Keeping Tabs with Technology.

Measuring the World: The Internet as An Instrument.

Prediction Markets: Wall Street Efficiency Applied to Measurements.

Chapter 14. A Universal Measurement Method - Applied Information Economics.

Bringing the Pieces Together.

Case: The Value of The System That Monitors Your Drinking Water.

Case: Forecasting Fuel for the Marine Corps.

Ideas for Getting Started: A Few Final Examples.

Summarizing the Philosophy.

Appendix. Calibration Tests.

Index.