Johnnie Moore's Weblog: Benchmarking and abstraction

June 1, 2004

Benchmarking and abstraction

I see that Seth Godin is pointing out the pitfalls of benchmarking.

We can benchmark our eyesight, our rowing speed, our memory or even our ability to come up with great ideas at a moment�s notice. As a result, we benchmark ourselves into a funk. We get stressed because we have to acknowledge that nothing is as good as it was.

In addition to the stress, benchmarking against the universe actually encourages us to be mediocre, to be average, to just do what everyone else is doing.

The problem with benchmarking is that it so easily takes us away from our actual experience. For example, if we assess our gym performance only by the heart rate monitor, we might forget to pause for a second and sense how we actually feel... have we strained muscles... half-an-hour later, do well feel good for the experience?

I agree with Seth. In business the pursuit of "best practice" can sometimes destroy the fun of people creating their own ways of doing things, and remove the spontaneity that itself is part of creating the fabled "customer experience". Market surveys love to benchmark, as if their averages are a fair representation of the mulitplicity of human responses to a product or service. But they aren't... and they tend to keep us in the realm of the known instead of the more creative realm of the unknown.

Posted by Johnnie Moore at 18:52 in Market research

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» Be careful what you measure... from Ripples
Seth Godin has written an excellent post, The Curse of Great Expectations which may bring you to a screeching halt in your headlong pursuit of perfection. His opening line, I can benchmark everything now and his conclusion, The problem with [Read More]

Comments (2)

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Tim says

As an example, I've stopped looking at my watch when I run. The time is not important to me. What is important is enjoying the experience. I love to see the rabbits hop in front, I love to crouch behind a tree and watch the deer in the distance and I love to change my route as I feel.

Somedays I just don't feel as fit as others but that doesn't really bother me. I just stop and listen to the sounds of the forest.

June 1, 2004 21:43 Permalink for comment

David St Lawrence says

You make some excellent points. Life is so much more than the sum of our benchmark results.

June 4, 2004 12:26 Permalink for comment