How to Measure Anything

Let go of "I don't know"

This book thoroughly debunks the idea that some things cannot be measured.

The principal problem is that when people think of measurement, they think of precision. If they cannot think of a way to measure something precisely, then they think the thing cannot be measured. By letting go of of this attachment to precision one finds that there are lots of ways that things can be measure that provide tremendously useful information. In most cases some rough measurements will reduce considerable uncertainty, and greatly improve decision making.

Warning. While this is a great book, it's hard to follow math on an audiobook. I'm glad I read it, but I wish I'd been using my eyes rather than my ears on this one.

21 of 21 people found this review helpful

not a good fit for audio

I read some reviews warning that this was a math heavy book and tough to follow on audio, but I figured that I was well versed enough that I could follow it. that didn't end up being the issue. the math isn't overly complex if you've had a statistics class, there's just so much if it that large parts feel like listening to the phonebook.

15 of 15 people found this review helpful

This book has changed my life!

This book has changed the way I think about my life and my business. Since reading this book my head has been filled with ideas for quantifying and measuring everything. Not everything should be measured... but after reading this you'll start to believe that anything can be measured.

Also wanted to mention that since listening to this book I have picked up 'Pulse' by the same author. It was also a good book, but not quite to the level of 'How to Measure Anything' IMHO.

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

Good but challenging in audible format at times

Hubbard presents a pretty compelling case that anything can be measured and that you should start by measuring what you can and then build your measuring instrument to fine tune your results as the needs are better understood. Hubbard covers many fallacies of why many business say they or their industry is unique and thus their needed info can't be measured. If I had read the physical or Kindle version of the book I probably would have given it 4 or 5 stars, but the Audible version I consumed was challenging at times. Hubbard tries hard to keep the math simple, but I found myself re listening to some parts multiple times to get some formula down.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

Wow is all I can say!

This book will forever change how you perceive measurement and risk. And told in a way that is easy to understand. I really enjoyed it. BUT don't stop with just this book! The Failure of Risk Management is required reading along with this one. Seriously!

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

How to create solid business cases for intangibles

Would you listen to How to Measure Anything again? Why?

For sure I will listen to it again to capture the finer points of the arguments made as some of them are requires a return to the math of my high school and college years.

My job resolves to a large degree around being able to assist my business stakeholders with identifying opportunities and risk and being able to quantify these in business cases. And in that light, this book was a very welcomed input to that work which in many case can be quite frustrating when it comes to the so called "intangibles".

What other book might you compare How to Measure Anything to and why?

I don't know any that does when it comes to an approach based on mathematics and statistics

Have you listened to any of David Drummond’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was the first of David Drummond's performances I've hear, but he did very well.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

It's a book on mathematics and statistics, so feelings are not the focus, but yes it was in general very encouraging to realize that it is actually possible to get a grip on things that seem quite elusive.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Great book

Great book. Immediately applicable to my job. recommend for managers looking to measure intangibles when doing business cases.

7 of 9 people found this review helpful

An Essential Listen for Analysts Everywhere

Full of practical guidance accompanied by insights from theory and experience, this book is essential for any analysts (or manager) interested in truly measuring everything they want to measure now, but simply do not know how. This book will not help those looking for a way to defend "intangible" characteristics, but will focus the willing on asking the right questions the right way to reduce uncertainty and make better decisions. As a professional analyst myself, I have used many of the techniques outlined in this book – though I did come up with some of them on my own, years before I read this book — and I find myself revisiting it periodically.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Read don’t listen, if you must. But awful.

The Applied Information Economics the author is peddling is badly repackaged basic statistics and decision theory which is 70 years old at this point.

Any good AP Statistics book and The Economist’s Numbers Guide are going to be far more authentic and honest. Both incorporate information on quantifying seemingly qualitative information.

I’m glad I didn’t pay for this.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great content, not best suited for audio

Because of the math heavy nature this would be better with a printed supplement or just as a hard copy book.

Great content though.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful