How to Measure Anything

Douglas W. Hubbard

There is no greater impediment to the advancement of knowledge than the ambiguity of words. —Thomas Reid


Take the highest and lowest values in the sample of five: 30 and 80. There is a 93.75% chance that the median of the entire population of employees is between those two numbers. I call this the “Rule of Five.”


Four Useful Measurement Assumptions 1. Your problem is not as unique as you think. 2. You have more data than you think. 3. You need less data than you think. 4. An adequate amount of new data is more accessible than you think.