Dan Heath

I think what's going on is at some point people thought, hey, we want to deliver a good experience for people who buy cars and trucks from us. Okay, so far, so good. We need things to measure so that we know if we're getting better or worse. Okay, well, let's try a survey at the end. That makes sense. Okay, so far, so good. But then sometimes these goals just take on a life of their own.

I think what's going on is at some point people thought, hey, we want to deliver a good experience for people who buy cars and trucks from us. Okay, so far, so good. We need things to measure so that we know if we're getting better or worse. Okay, well, let's try a survey at the end. That makes sense. Okay, so far, so good. But then sometimes these goals just take on a life of their own.

So rather than using those surveys as a diagnostic of whether the experience is getting better, the survey becomes an end in itself, right? It's like they just want you to literally bubble in 10 out of 10, regardless of what your actual experience was, because if they get a 10 out of 10, they'll get a bonus or something.

So rather than using those surveys as a diagnostic of whether the experience is getting better, the survey becomes an end in itself, right? It's like they just want you to literally bubble in 10 out of 10, regardless of what your actual experience was, because if they get a 10 out of 10, they'll get a bonus or something.

So rather than using those surveys as a diagnostic of whether the experience is getting better, the survey becomes an end in itself, right? It's like they just want you to literally bubble in 10 out of 10, regardless of what your actual experience was, because if they get a 10 out of 10, they'll get a bonus or something.

And so that's why I think this prompt, if we can learn to consider what's the goal of the goal, I think that's a useful corrective. So in this situation, the goal of the goal, in other words, why are we collecting the survey data? Surely it's not because we want our team to get better and better at hectoring customers into giving falsely inflated scores, right?

And so that's why I think this prompt, if we can learn to consider what's the goal of the goal, I think that's a useful corrective. So in this situation, the goal of the goal, in other words, why are we collecting the survey data? Surely it's not because we want our team to get better and better at hectoring customers into giving falsely inflated scores, right?

And so that's why I think this prompt, if we can learn to consider what's the goal of the goal, I think that's a useful corrective. So in this situation, the goal of the goal, in other words, why are we collecting the survey data? Surely it's not because we want our team to get better and better at hectoring customers into giving falsely inflated scores, right?

That surely can't be the goal of the goal. The goal of the goal is to provide a better experience. And if that's what we care about, this whole charade, of bugging people to give 10 out of 10s is just on the wrong path altogether.

That surely can't be the goal of the goal. The goal of the goal is to provide a better experience. And if that's what we care about, this whole charade, of bugging people to give 10 out of 10s is just on the wrong path altogether.

That surely can't be the goal of the goal. The goal of the goal is to provide a better experience. And if that's what we care about, this whole charade, of bugging people to give 10 out of 10s is just on the wrong path altogether.

Why are you asking me for feedback if you fundamentally do not care what the feedback is?

Why are you asking me for feedback if you fundamentally do not care what the feedback is?

Why are you asking me for feedback if you fundamentally do not care what the feedback is?

Exactly right. There's a law called Goodhart's Law that says when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. And I love that because that's what happened in the survey story, right? It's like as soon as you start layering on carrots and sticks to get the 10 out of 10, when the measure becomes a target, it's no longer a good measure of anything.

Exactly right. There's a law called Goodhart's Law that says when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. And I love that because that's what happened in the survey story, right? It's like as soon as you start layering on carrots and sticks to get the 10 out of 10, when the measure becomes a target, it's no longer a good measure of anything.

Exactly right. There's a law called Goodhart's Law that says when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. And I love that because that's what happened in the survey story, right? It's like as soon as you start layering on carrots and sticks to get the 10 out of 10, when the measure becomes a target, it's no longer a good measure of anything.