Getting Attention Is Easy; Focusing It Is Not

I once wrote an article titled “Do Your Metrics Matter?” It was inspired by the joy of sitting in an airplane, at the gate, going nowhere fast for close to 2 hours. All the while the airline app was proclaiming an on-time departure. Having ample time to discuss this perceived error with the crew, I learned that the closed aircraft door equaled departure. Departed, it turned out, was not an indication of a flight in motion but a process gone awry (a circumstance that may persist to this day, for what it’s worth).