Beware of evil Data!
Wow. Os Guinness really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really does not like measurement of outcomes.
Not some specific, inappropriate measurement of outcomes, mind you. Separating the good from the bad, keeping the baby while throwing out the bathwater, would require him to exercise some self-restraint and careful logical analysis. Why do that when you can simply wallow in the pleasure of demonizing things that annoy you?
I guess he won’t be asking his publisher how many copies his new book has sold.
Or for a royalty check.
The article you linked to surely seemed to be suffering from poor editing (of course, this happens a lot in ephemeral writing).
I don’t see how anybody could manage to be “for” or “against” such a thing as “measurable outcomes.” It would be like “choosing sides” on weather, or feet. Such a binary would omit almost every important quality that we might really need to argue about.
But then, so does the urge to impose metrics on all manner of human activity, especially when coupled with an impoverished metaphysics that urges us to believe that all valid measures “cash out” in the terms an economist or sociologist might prefer.
One could, for example, embrace the idea that the most appropriate measure even of a straightforwardly economic transaction is the satisfaction of both parties that the other party dealt honestly; but such a thing might make GDP statistics show up as a dead letter.
Ephemeral writing? Look closer. It’s a book excerpt!
Yep–I was giving him the benefit of the doubt that the “ephemeral” excerpt-as-blog-post was edited badly by someone who thought such excerpts should contain generalities that elicit reactions and avoid getting down in the weeds. Of course, it’s entirely possible that it *is* representative of the book, but I hope it isn’t.
But, yes, it never helps to push back against “we must impose our preferred metrics on all areas of life” with “measurement is bad.”
Nonetheless, there *is* something to be said for the argument that our cultural understanding of measurement is systemically, not incidentally, flawed–and flawed in ways that make us vulnerable to all manner of abuses.
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