[TeMPOraL]

> I agree that KPIs are misused quite a lot but that does change the fact that they can provide valuable information and setup incentives to follow certain goals.

The problem is that KPIs are misused like, 99.9% of the times, starting from elementary school. It's rare to see someone using such scores as (one of many) evaluation input and not an output. It's good that you put effort into doing real analysis; sadly, not many people do that.

I think that KPIs, or grades, let you as a manager/evaluator be lazy. You don't have to think, to investigate why the scores are bad, to talk with poor performers. Probably you'll be even discouraged from doing so by your superiors / the whole system - you are not allowed to completely disregard the scores at your discretion.

[markgraydk]

Sadly, you are probably right, at least that the majority of cases misuse KPIs. But dont throw the baby out with the bathwater. KPIs reveal patterns, force you attention towards certain issues and create a base for discussion. They can also pidgeon whole you into misunderstanding what is happening though.

In my experience, KPIs work better as a tool for communication and as input for analysis rather than for optimization of goals. In a previous job I worked with aggregating the Balanced Scorecard for a 10,000 employee corporation. On such an aggregate level where the KPIs are composites of many underlying decisions there is less of a risk of perverse incentives. Instead, they are used for comparing trends across time and similar purposes.

KPIs targeted at individuals or smaller teams are very different than that example though.