Email the Author

About the Book

Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth - Ludwig Borne (1786-1837)

From sports to governments, from human health to corporate institutions, people are using metrics to measure some sort of progress. It is a central part of the dialogue about focus, control and accountability within private as well as governmental organizations.

People all over the world manage their jobs (and sometimes lives) via these indicators, telling them where to go next and where not. Decisions, big and small, find their origin in graphs, diagrams, tables and lists filled with KPIs. But is the KPI the prophetic tools of this era? In this book we will see that they are not. 

Performance measures are frequently irrelevant, or worse, they encourage the wrong behaviour. They often provide a false sense of control and certainty. KPIs might look like the bright light at the end of the dark tunnel. But we’ll see that they are more often then not the headlights of an oncoming train.

This book explores the hidden side of KPIs; why we are so addicted to them, what things can go wrong creating them and where it goes amis when using them and much more. 

About the Author

Coen de Bruijn

@coen_de_bruijn

Over the past few years the idea of Key Performance Illusions formed in my head. More and more I saw misuse and misinterpretation of statistics in the practice of Performance Measurement. While doing research on the topic I noted that most literature depict a rose-coloured and idealistic portrait about the merits behind Performance Measurement. That, I want to change.

In the past I have worked in different industries and in different content and managerial roles. Areas of occupations range from Big Data, Financial Crime Management, Compliance, Risk Management to Enterprise Architecture. Currently I work with ABN AMRO as Head of Business Architecture. 

In 2010 my first book was published "Van tofu krijg je geheugenverlies", on the misuse of statistics in politics, media and marketing.