Covid-19 has helped to propel the work-from-home movement. Many companies have announced plans to maintain a remote workforce. For some workers, this might represent a permanent change in scenery. Workers are now being hired specifically to work from home. For others, it could be on…

In the “Ecology of Metrics,” I wrote about “alignment” being a type of metric; alignment can measure the extent to which an organization’s supply or capacity is matched against the demands or needs of the market.  For instance, in a call centre, it would be highly desirable to have agents available to respond to calls at “precisely” the same time that clients are making calls.  If alignment is off even by only 15 to 30 seconds, impatient clients might hang up and never call again.  Similarly…

The term “technical analysis” usually refers to the study of stock prices.  A technical analyst might use real-time or closing prices of stocks to predict future prices.  This is an interesting concept because of what is normally excluded from the analysis - namely, everything except prices.  Given that the approach doesn’t necessarily consider the health or profitability of the underlying companies, a purely technical approach seems to offer guidance that is disconnected from reality.  Yet…

In general, any expression of performance that applies to a department can, if the data system is configured properly, be stated in relation to individual workers.  For instance, if # of sales contracts / # of customer enquiries = success rate, the success rate can be given for the entire dealership and also for each sales agent in that dealership.  Due to the differences in performance between agents, it can be problematic to only make use of the aggregate.  Some agents might be blamed for…

About a month ago in a blog, I introduced what I described as a “spectral attenuation monitor.”  At the time I only had an image from MS Works that…

I periodically use charts containing a crosswave “differential spectrum” or “event horizon.”  In this blog, I will explain the nature of the spectrum and the relevance of any apparent bias.

I once mentioned purchasing a machine designed to monitor and reduce sleep apnea.  Sleep apnea is when a person stops breathing while sleeping.  During a sleep study, I was found to have moderate sleep apnea.  Apart from its medical implications, sleep apnea is also a metric.  The machine…

This blog is about the lived experience of "becoming a statistic." In our increasingly data-oriented society, the use of data serves not merely to try to understand but also to control people and determine their placement in the scheme of things. Central to the theme of systemic racism, gender discrimination, and the formation of class strata is the elevation evidentiary artefacts such as statistics in order to structurally define and diminish "individuals." The purpose is to make lesser the…