Gaming the System: What a USPS Smiley Face Teaches Us About Bad Metrics

The blog post

In this episode, Mark Graban shares a small but revealing story from a local post office — and what it teaches us about bad metrics and broken systems. When a clerk tapped the “green smiley face” on a customer feedback device for the customer, it raised an important question: was this about genuine service, or just gaming the system?

Mark explains why the issue isn’t the clerk, but the system around him — a system that encourages scoring over substance, compliance over improvement. Drawing on Lean thinking and Deming’s philosophy, he explores how poorly designed metrics push people to protect themselves instead of serving customers.

You’ll hear why:

• Metrics without context mislead more than they inform

• People naturally adapt to meet incentives, even if it means gaming the numbers

• Most performance is a function of the system, not individual effort

If you’ve ever wondered why “customer satisfaction scores” or other simplistic measures don’t always match reality, this episode will resonate. Leaders everywhere — in healthcare, government, and business — need to ask not “why did they do that?” but “what about the system made that behavior the best option?”

Because when we fix the system, we don’t need people to game it.