How the Choice of Measures of Effectiveness Constrains Operational Analysis

Gordon Raisbeck
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Gordon Raisbeck: Arthur D. Little, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140

Interfaces, 1979, vol. 9, issue 4, 85-93

Abstract: The heart of this paper is some examples of how an inept choice of a measure of effectiveness has led an analyst (usually me) into error. Its tone is less solemn than that of most published papers, chiefly because it is about mistakes, and the only way that I know of to live with my own mistakes is to laugh at them. The morals to be drawn from these experiences are first, I, and many others, have erred more often by devoting too little effort into selecting measures of effectiveness than by devoting too much ; and second (a corollary), in assigning resources and making schedules for an operational analysis, it is usually worth allocating more effort to finding measures of effectiveness even if you have to take it away from the other parts of the analysis.

Keywords: decision; analysis:; criteria:; measures; of; effectiveness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1979
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orinte:v:9:y:1979:i:4:p:85-93

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