How to Conquer the Effective Frontier and Drive Improved Value in Global Operations Growth has slowed. Volatility has increased and the world is more global. Brands are defined by innovation and services. Supply chain excellence matters more than ever. It makes a difference in corporate performance. One cannot snap their fingers and deliver supply chain success. It happens over the course of many years. It is measured in inches not miles. In this book, the author evaluates the progress of over a hundred companies over the period of 2006-2013. Success drives value. The effective supply chain makes a difference in winning a war, saving a patient, and driving commerce; but it also makes a difference in a community having clean air, potable water, and a standard of living. Mistakes are hard to overcome. Supply Chain Metrics that Matter tells this story. The book links corporate financials to supply chain maturity. In the book, the author analyzes which metrics matter. The author Lora M. Cecere is a supply chain researcher as well as an authority in supply chain technology. She helps companies gain first mover advantage. In the book, Cecere provides concrete, actionable steps to align and balance the supply chain to drive value. The book explores the crossover between supply chain efficiency and financial growth with topics such as: Outlining the metrics that matter, the metrics that don't Progress in industry sub-segment in improving inventory, cash, productivity and margin The management techniques that improve performance Sharing insights on how metrics change as the supply chain matures The roadmap to improve performance. Today, supply chains are global and dynamic. They are rapidly evolving. Companies that constantly seek out new solutions and opportunities for improvement drive differentiation. In a market where growth is stalled and many companies are stuck in driving supply chain performance, this book provides a clear, concise framework for a more modern, effective supply chain.

The overwhelming majority of a software system’s lifespan is spent in use, not in design or implementation. So, why does conventional wisdom insist that software engineers focus primarily on the design and development of large-scale computing systems? In this collection of essays and articles, key members of Google’s Site Reliability Team explain how and why their commitment to the entire lifecycle has enabled the company to successfully build, deploy, monitor, and maintain some of the largest software systems in the world. You’ll learn the principles and practices that enable Google engineers to make systems more scalable, reliable, and efficient—lessons directly applicable to your organization. This book is divided into four sections: Introduction—Learn what site reliability engineering is and why it differs from conventional IT industry practices Principles—Examine the patterns, behaviors, and areas of concern that influence the work of a site reliability engineer (SRE) Practices—Understand the theory and practice of an SRE’s day-to-day work: building and operating large distributed computing systems Management—Explore Google's best practices for training, communication, and meetings that your organization can use

How the obsession with quantifying human performance threatens business, medicine, education, government—and the quality of our lives Today, organizations of all kinds are ruled by the belief that the path to success is quantifying human performance, publicizing the results, and dividing up the rewards based on the numbers. But in our zeal to instill the evaluation process with scientific rigor, we've gone from measuring performance to fixating on measuring itself—and this tyranny of metrics now threatens the quality of our organizations and lives. In this brief, accessible, and powerful book, Jerry Muller uncovers the damage metrics are causing and shows how we can begin to fix the problem. Filled with examples from business, medicine, education, government, and other fields, the book explains why paying for measured performance doesn't work, why surgical scorecards may increase deaths, and much more. But Muller also shows that, when used as a complement to judgment based on personal experience, metrics can be beneficial, and he includes an invaluable checklist of when and how to use them. The result is an essential corrective to a harmful trend that increasingly affects us all.

This pocket guide brings together client and provider perspectives on IT and outlines a set of common measures that both sides can relate to. It seeks to emphasise the importance of meeting the needs of IT users and the role that measurement can play in achieving that goal effectively.

Highlights the pitfalls of data analysis and emphasizes the importance of using the appropriate metrics before making key decisions.Big data is often touted as the key to understanding almost every aspect of contemporary life. This critique of "information hubris" shows that even more important than data is finding the right metrics to evaluate it.The author, an expert in environmental design and city planning, examines the many ways in which we measure ourselves and our world. He dissects the metrics we apply to health, worker productivity, our children's education, the quality of our environment, the effectiveness of leaders, the dynamics of the economy, and the overall well-being of the planet. Among the areas where the wrong metrics have led to poor outcomes, he cites the fee-for-service model of health care, corporate cultures that emphasize time spent on the job while overlooking key productivity measures, overreliance on standardized testing in education to the detriment of authentic learning, and a blinkered focus on carbon emissions, which underestimates the impact of industrial damage to our natural world. He also examines various communities and systems that have achieved better outcomes by adjusting the ways in which they measure data. The best results are attained by those that have learned not only what to measure and how to measure it, but what it all means. By highlighting the pitfalls inherent in data analysis, this illuminating book reminds us that not everything that can be counted really counts.

In 2016, Googleâ??s Site Reliability Engineering book ignited an industry discussion on what it means to run production services todayâ??and why reliability considerations are fundamental to service design. Now, Google engineers who worked on that bestseller introduce The Site Reliability Workbook, a hands-on companion that uses concrete examples to show you how to put SRE principles and practices to work in your environment. This new workbook not only combines practical examples from Googleâ??s experiences, but also provides case studies from Googleâ??s Cloud Platform customers who underwent this journey. Evernote, The Home Depot, The New York Times, and other companies outline hard-won experiences of what worked for them and what didnâ??t. Dive into this workbook and learn how to flesh out your own SRE practice, no matter what size your company is. Youâ??ll learn: How to run reliable services in environments you donâ??t completely controlâ??like cloud Practical applications of how to create, monitor, and run your services via Service Level Objectives How to convert existing ops teams to SREâ??including how to dig out of operational overload Methods for starting SRE from either greenfield or brownfield

Whether you're a startup founder trying to disrupt an industry or an entrepreneur trying to provoke change from within, your biggest challenge is creating a product people actually want. Lean Analytics steers you in the right direction. This book shows you how to validate your initial idea, find the right customers, decide what to build, how to monetize your business, and how to spread the word. Packed with more than thirty case studies and insights from over a hundred business experts, Lean Analytics provides you with hard-won, real-world information no entrepreneur can afford to go without. Understand Lean Startup, analytics fundamentals, and the data-driven mindset Look at six sample business models and how they map to new ventures of all sizes Find the One Metric That Matters to you Learn how to draw a line in the sand, so you'll know it's time to move forward Apply Lean Analytics principles to large enterprises and established products