measurement

Screenshot from Tumbl, by @brightwanderer "I think a lot about how we as a culture have turned “forever” into the only acceptable definition of success. Like... if you open a coffee shop and run it for a while and it makes you happy but then stuff gets too expensive and stressful and you want to do something else so you close it, it’s a “failed” business. If you write a book or two, then decide that you don’t actually want to keep doing that, you’re a “failed” writer. If you marry someone, and that marriage is good for a while, and then stops working and you get divorced, it’s a “failed” marriage. The only acceptable “win condition” is “you keep doing that thing forever”. A friendship that lasts for a few years but then its time is done and you move on is considered less valuable or not a “real” friendship. A hobby that you do for a while and then are done with is a “phase” - or, alternatively, a “pity” that you don’t do that thing any more. A fandom is “dying” because people have had a lot of fun with it but are now moving on to other things. I just think that something can be good, and also end, and that thing was still good. And it’s okay to be sad that it ended, too. But the idea that anything that ends is automatically less than this hypothetical eternal state of success... I don’t think that’s doing us any good at all."

“Forever” is a poor metric

December 16, 2025
New stuff

brightwanderer on Tumblr I think a lot about how we as a culture have turned… Read More »“Forever” is a poor metric

One of the pupils' work, a representation of the journey which involves a squiggly timeline and many googly eyes.

Case study: participative programme evaluation

October 30, 2025December 26, 2025
Case studies

Who: CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group), a UK charity working on child poverty. Via a… Read More »Case study: participative programme evaluation

Two white cranes face each other in a snowy landscape, against a backdrop of leafless trees. Their wingtips and necks are black, and the top of their heads are red.

Measuring (not) relationships

October 22, 2025October 22, 2025
New stuff

I joined the Relationships Project for a discussion on Relational Readiness today (they’re developing a… Read More »Measuring (not) relationships

An extremey complex visualisation of the whole system of factors that affect obesity. It's a mass of labels and connecting lines and coloured areas.

Measures and targets

October 6, 2025October 6, 2025
New stuff

I recently saw a post on Mastodon to the effect that when a measure becomes… Read More »Measures and targets

A "Stacey Matrix". X axis is "realisation", which runs from clear to unclear. Y axis is "requirements", which runs from clear to unclear. Clear realisation x clear requirements = simple. Medium realisation x medium requirements = complicated. Unclear realisation x unclear requirements = complex. Beyond that, in the top right hand corner: chaos.

Reading 2 (July 2025)

July 6, 2025March 16, 2026
Reading

This week’s 12 links: My time to read: 1 hour Image credit – Dr Stefan… Read More »Reading 2 (July 2025)

Blach and white photo. Elspeth Beard astride her BMW motorbike, with large side and rear panniers (designed and built by her out of sheet aluminium and rivets), with a white helmet resting on the handlebars. She's wearing jeans, leather boots, and a leather jacket. She's parked up outside what looks like a warehouse, looking off camera.

Reading 1 (June 2025)

June 28, 2025March 16, 2026
Reading

This week’s 12 links: My time to read: 1 hour 15 mins Image credit: Motorcyclist… Read More »Reading 1 (June 2025)

White smoke on a black background. (Photo by Pascal Meier on Unsplash.com)

Making the important visible

June 27, 2024June 28, 2025
New stuff

I’m thinking about this today, prompted by the latest post on Seth’s Blog: “If it’s… Read More »Making the important visible

A salmon jumping upstream over a small ramp in a fast flowing river

About salmons and whooping cranes

July 28, 2019August 31, 2024
Archive (old posts)

(Originally published on Medium.) Somewhere along my biologist training or my subsequent cross-disciplinary meanderings, I… Read More »About salmons and whooping cranes

Depth measurements painted on the side of a canal

What we measure is secondary to why we measure

July 13, 2019June 27, 2025
Archive (old posts)

(Originally published on Medium.) I have been having many conversations about Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)… Read More »What we measure is secondary to why we measure