Keeping Score: Using the Right Metrics to Drive World-Class Performance

Hello I bought this book in a good deal, I wish it would have been a better one. The conditions were excelent, just brand new.

I ordered Mark Graham Brown's "Keeping Score" just as I got involved with a Balanced Scorecard implementation. As we worked through the process of designing our internal scorecard I found this slim volume (<200 pages) an invaluable aid. From the introduction through to the last chapter, I found this book full of practical ideas and advice. For instance, one of my personal pet peeves is the short shrift most larger companies give to the value of their people. In chapter 10: "Measuring Employee Satisfaction", Mr. Brown addresses topics such as the short-sightedness of improving profits through downsizing and how a balanced scorecard can help underline this mistake. He ends the book with a practical 10 item list "The Key To Successful Plans". After all the theory, I was glad to have a roadmap handy. I'd recommend this book to anybody who is contemplating a new scorecard, or rehabbing an existing one.

Fed up with the passive measures of achievement we have been using (which were a whole lot better than the NONE we used to use), I bought about a dozen books on the subject. I started with this one first because it is thin, well organized, easy to read and, even though it is not sufficiently oriented to manufacturing firms to completely satisfy my interests, gives enough examples to stimulate development of measures specifically applicable to my Company. I also liked the discussion of corporate mission, corporate vision, key success factors and the development of indicators and goals which address these factors.

Being a Baldrige examiner, Mark Graham Brown has a good handle on this subject matter. What he's been able to do is create a masterful work on the business of keeping score. He makes you think in a standardized way. Plus he gives you enough real life examples to get your creative juices flowing. He has also included a good evaluation tool. Great book to consider as a REFERENCE and also as a TEACHING TOOL. Good enough to be used as a teaching tool for a whole staff of people given some good facilitation.

A "must read" for anyone struggling with the "how-to" side of developing and implementing Balanced Scorecard performance measures or in developing effective Baldridge-based quality measures. Beyond theory, full of specific examples and world-class best practices, this book should be required reading for any manager (and consultants!). If you liked "Balanced Scorecard" (book and Havard Business Review series) you'll LOVE this book