Speaking Of Reliability: Friends Discussing Reliability Engineering Topics | Warranty | Plant Maintenance Decisions and Metrics
Jun 16, 2025
Discover the pitfalls of relying on misleading metrics like Mean Time Between Failures and the importance of accurate data. Explore the roles of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) in achieving organizational goals. Learn how engineers face challenges in communicating reliability metrics and how materiality shapes decision-making. Plus, delve into the relationship between risk management and corporate decisions, especially regarding safety issues and warranty monitoring.
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Faulty Metrics Mislead Decisions
- An organization used a faulty metric dividing returns by units shipped in the same month, which was meaningless and misleading.
- They preferred it because it was easy, despite its inaccuracy and poor decision impact.
Understanding OKRs and KPIs
- OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) link high-level objectives with measurable key results cascading through the organization.
- They aim to improve performance tracking but can be painful to negotiate and implement properly.
Challenges of Gameable KPIs
- KPIs alone can be gamed, so balanced scorecards or OKRs help reduce gaming by aligning measures with strategy.
- However, enforcing balancing objectives remains a challenge, often leading to conflicts between cost and quality.