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Adrian Kingwell, MD of Mezzo Labs, talks at Getting Ahead in Web Analytics 2 on how to improve the performance of any project by having clear objectives, KPIs and underlying data.
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Adrian Kingwell, Mezzo LabsNovember 2013
A flying lesson.Or, why it’s important to connect KPIs to a clear objective
““
Why is this date so important?
17th December 1903
““
On 17th December 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright achieved the first sustained, controlled, powered heavier-than-air manned flight…
But it wasn’t the first powered flight…
Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834 – 1906)American astronomer, physicist, inventor of the bolometer and pioneer of aviation. • Professor of mathematics
US Naval Academy• Director, Allegheny
Observatory • Professor of astronomy,
Western University of Pennsylvania
• Third Secretary, Smithsonian Institution
• Founder, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Langley received US War Department grants of $50,000 and $20,000 to develop a piloted airplane.
They wanted something to help them win the Spanish-American War – a spy plane.
He connected his project with their strategic objective.
On May 6, 1896 Aerodrome 5 was catapulted from a boat on Potomac River.It flew over 1000m.
Proved that stability and sufficient lift could be achieved in an aircraft.
But it was un-manned.
Next challenge: put a man in it.
So Langley scaled up the original models.
He developed a more powerful engine.
But it didn’t work.
Two launches in October 1903 both immediately crashed into the water.
It wouldn’t fly. It was uncontrollable.
Result: no more state funding.
Langley taught us some valuable lessons:1. There’s always
someone, somewhere who has the budget you need
2. Align yourself with business objectives
3. Don’t set unachievable milestones, or KPIs that don’t measure progress
4. Give stakeholders regular updates of progress
5. One man’s opinions may work when you are small, by they rarely scale
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So how did the Wright brothers beat Langley?
Wright brothers started with a more achievable objective…
Get a man and an engine in the air and keep it there.
• They started with man on-board a glider
• They did not waste time developing a more powerful engine
Their objectives were to find more lift and better control
• They built a wind tunnel to test their hypotheses before committing to the full-scale world.
• They used data from the wind tunnel to improve the efficiency of the wings and propellers.
• They created a different sort of “model”.
• Their fundamental breakthrough was invention of three-axis control.
The Wright brothers were first – but not by much.
• 1 man
• 1 engine
• 37 metres
• 12 seconds
What did the Wright brothers teach us?
• Set achievable objectives
• Test and learn
• Optimise (they refined the principles of flight, rather than build a bigger engine)
• You don’t necessarily big budgets
But they were NOT a commercial success.
The Wright brothers made no flights at all in 1906 and 1907.
They spent their time trying to persuade the US and European govts to buy their flying machine.
Replying to the Wrights' letters, the U.S. military expressed virtually no interest in their claims.
““
So how does this help us web analysts?
5 steps to Data-Driven Marketing
This is your vision
““
• Your vision may be clear– The objective is to get marketing driven by data,
not misinformed personal opinion
• But this journey will fail if it is not closely aligned with board-level objectives
• So how do we align objectives, activity and data?
Business objectives
Your objectives
Your activities
KPIs
Metrics
You need a model -- one that will scale to board level
Business objectives
• Win the Spanish-American war
Your objectives
• Build a spy plane
Your activities
• Scale our model• Build a more powerful
engine
KPIs • Distance flown
Metrics • Metres
This is how it looked for Langley
Business objectives
• Be the first manned, powered flight
Your objectives
• Build a plane that gets a man off the ground
Your activities
• Build better wings• Build better propellers
KPIs • Lift• Power used
Metrics• Lbs/ft• HP
This is how it looked for the Wrights
Business objectives
• Sell more product at lower cost
Your objectives
• Sell more online, with less budget
Your activities
• Improve SEO• Increase social reach
KPIs• Increased visitors from
Google• Increased visitors from
Metrics• Google
visitors • Twitter
visitors
This is how it could look for you
This is how it looks once you’ve planned it out
Data Layer
C-Level
Campaigns
Management
Content
Nail the requirements and get the right data.
Dashboards align with audience types• C-level needs very
simple metrics and lots of pictures
• Management need some depth but not too much
• Campaigns and content KPIs are deep
KPIKPI
Objective
What Langley should have done…• Clearer alignment
between US Govt objectives and Langley’s KPIs
• More testing and learning
• Better reporting of progress to all stakeholders
The result…• The funding continues• The Aerodrome flies• America wins the war
““
Conclusion• Digital objectives must be aligned with
business objectives• Objectives must be realistic and achievable• Decide tactics, agree KPIs• Report progress back to the board via a few
simple KPIs• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, test and
learn, pivot or persevere