Performance Systems
Why most performance management doesn't work, what incentive structures actually produce, and how to read organizational BS.
What I mean by this tag
This topic covers the systems organizations use to measure, evaluate, and reward performance—and why most of them produce worse outcomes than no system at all. I'm interested in the gap between what performance management claims to do and what it actually does.
This includes performance reviews, OKRs, KPIs, stack ranking, 360 feedback, and all the other mechanisms that supposedly align individual behavior with organizational goals. Spoiler: the alignment is usually less real than the HR deck suggests.
Start here
If you're new to this topic, begin with this episode.
EP. 002: Greatest Productivity Hacks? Not so fast! - Part 1
Deep dive into popular productivity hacks. Are they backed by research, or just rebranded common sense?
All episodes in this topic
Business Nerd Confronts Viral Youtube Comedy Failure
Steven He's business failure story with extracted lessons.
EP. 003Greatest Productivity Hacks? Not so fast! - Part 2
Continuing the productivity deep dive. More claims examined.
EP. 002Greatest Productivity Hacks? Not so fast! - Part 1
Deep dive into popular productivity hacks and the research.
Related reading
Sources I trust on this topic.
- The Tyranny of Metrics (Jerry Muller) — How measurement fixation produces worse outcomes.
- Goodhart's Law — "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."
- Harvard Business Review research — Use critically; they publish both good research and sponsored content.