That's just the very tip of the iceberg. Some
of you may rightly say, "I don't use those anyway - why should measurement be of interest to me?"
But how many of
us have an idea and tear off in a direction before taking stock? before checking to see if we know what we need? or have enough resources to achieve our objectives? Be honest, like most of us chances are you haven't measured or estimated properly beforehand.
It might be worth considering:
- Our high levels of consumption can't go on forever, we run out of non-renewables at some point, so we might want to understand the real impacts of scarcity in future and have plans for it.
- Changes in
climate and weather are increasing, understanding local impacts intimately, may change your future experiences.
- Innovation and improvisation rely on well-designed experiments and measurements for learning and adjustment.
- We may need to understand interrelated measurements, especially where they provide early warnings or insights into complex system
change.
- Simple observations and a few new measurements might help you to make better investment decisions.
As we move forward, our ability to establish facts, critically understand what is actually happening to things of interest and being able to perpetuate ongoing calculations, is likely to be even more critical than it is today.
And we aren't saying that our intuition won't be useful
in future, it will be. System complexity, the timing of interrelated events and emergent properties are all beyond precise calculation, as is our capacity for bias and oversimplification. Experience and the ability to estimate play a role in making wise choices and decisions - but measurement is still fundamental.
We would love to hear your thoughts on:
- What kind of measurements could we adopt instead of GDP?
- Times when obsessing over measurement or data is not useful.
- Examples of not measuring the right things for transition?
Join us if you want to learn about what we should measure and how, in future.
"The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday's logic." - Peter Drucker
