Tag: outcomes

Incentivizing outcomes or optics?

MIKE3 Comments
These circles overlap to some degree in every situation. A minimal overlap situation might be the coder who wears sliders and hoodies and the banker who wears suits and slacks.

Outcome (noun): something which matters, is measured and measurable. Examples: sabermetrics, code, sales.

Optics (noun): something which might matter, however is unmeasured and unmeasurable. Examples: appearance, attention, cultural expectations..

Things which are difficult to measure will be evaluated by optics. In these conditions it’s best to maximize optics.

Things which are easy to measure will be optimized on their measured quantities. In these conditions it’s best to optimize.