Time passes me by and without realizing it, it is the month of March. A good portion of this rather short month I was holidaying with Cynthia in Melbourne. Barely made it for the home cooked meals measurement, I yet again have failed the exercise index with a downward trend. If only I can find a way to quantify all the walking and hiking in Melbourne, I could have made it. I guess the take home message for me is to emphasis on training this March. Besides, my friends and I am heading to Mount Kinabalu at the end of the month.
Looking ahead, I am most likely to fail two of the three quarterly measurements. Oh well, I have a month to think about it.
(click here to see the color coding system).
| Category | Measurement | Frequency | Target | Stretched Target | Result | Score |
| Life | Traveling Budget Utilised | Half-yearly | S$2,000 | S$3,000 | n/a | n/a |
| Life | No. of Extraordinary Projects | Quarterly | 1 | 2 | n/a | n/a |
| Health | Exercise Hours | Monthly | 8 | 10 | 4.5 | 0 |
| Health | No. of Home Cooked Meals | Monthly | 15 | 20 | 15 | 5 |
| Money | Return of Total Savings | Quarterly | 3% p.a. | 5% p.a. | n/a | n/a |
| Hobby | No. of Public Performance | Quarterly | 1 | 2 | n/a | n/a |
| Hobby | No. of Books Published | Yearly | 1 | 2 | n/a | n/a |
| Habit | No. of Hangover | Monthly | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Habit | No. of Gaming Hours | Monthly | 40 | 30 | 7.5 | 10 |
2 replies on “My Scorecard Results for Feb 2007”
Just curious. Didn’t you spend money during the Melbourne trip? Wouldn’t those go under the “Travelling Budget Utilized” bit? On hindsight, is overachieving this measurement a good thing or a bad thing? What does it mean if you spend say, S$1,800 of the budget instead of the target of S$2,000? I’m still thinking about how a balance score card system works (not just in this instance, but in general), because by putting down numbers, it doesn’t necessarily mean the quality of the experience is high. E.g. if you hit 20 home cooked meals, if each meal you take 1 hr to prepare and it’s a 5-course meal, (1) it may taste fantastic (2) it takes time out of your other activities => is that good or not good to hit that number of home cooked meals? What if it’s another case where you hit 15 meals, and everyone of them is quick-and-dirty spaghetti. Is that good? Perhaps I shall go find out a bit more on balance score card.
Good questions and let me try to answer that since I am passionate over this balanced scorecard tool.
First thing first, my measurements are going to be different from yours because what I wish to achieve and the form of success is different from yours. You see no result under “Travelling Budget Utilised” because it is a half-yearly measurement. I only report that on June and December.
“Travelling Budget Utilised” for instance is created with a rationale (see original article on development). It is because I don’t do any form of travel at all … or I just settle for some short distance travel. Cynthia really wanted to travel overseas. My concern is not to save money. My concern is to actually utilised the budget to travel. As I have already said it is hard to count the short and long haul travels so I use budget utilisation as a proxy.
However, if next year I realise that I have aggressively overspent, then the measurement will be different. I would put a lower limit instead. So, remember, measurement is only meaningful when read with the intend.
A short recap, measurements (KPIs) measure objectives. It is you who define your own objectives based on what you wish to achieve.
As for home cooked meals, my problem is not the quality of cooking (as I started cooking at the age of 18 till now). My problem is certainly the quantity. If I can hit 15 meals, I know it is not going to be a quick-and-dirty spaghetti so that scenario is not relevant to me at all. And I certainly will not spend that much time on cooking because I only spend 10 mins in preparing the food and another 10 mins in cooking it. My objective is to have as many home cooked food as possible. Like I mentioned, we don’t and should not measure everything around us. Only the key ones. I am not measuring the effort nor quality because to me, it is not necessary.
In a nutshell, every one has different strategies, different objectives, different circumstances, and hence different measurements. There is no one-size-fit-all approach to balanced scorecard. And that is why there is a need for consultants, like I was used to, to visit each individual military units – though they are all in the business of training – to help them formulate their scorecards.
I can give you a hand on yours if you wish.