Meaningless Risk Metrics

There are so many articles written on creating actionable metrics, key risk indicators, risk predictors and other forms of meaningful metrics that I decided to take the opposite approach: Let’s look at meaningless metrics, areas where we can and should pare down. We’ll draw some creative license in comparing security metrics through the designs of an automobile.

·         Don’t measure in irrelevant units: At what point in the advancement of the automobile did we need to know the numeric level of the volume? IMHO, one should just adjust the volume as determined by their hearing, not a visual cue.

·         Don’t oversimplify important items: I miss the days of knowing my oil pressure and alternator performance. It allowed me to know when things were about to break, allowing me to be proactive in maintenance. In today’s world, we have these dummy lights to let us know the obvious – something has already failed.

·         Don’t assume users understand relationships between metrics: Thank goodness cars still have the tachometer (it’s the big one left of the speedometer). And why is that important? Because knowing what the minimum, maximum and most efficient RPMs for a given speed – or gear for those who still favor a manual transmission – helps the driver operate the automobile at its peak performance.

·         Don’t distract users from their main responsibilities: I deplore techie-based user interfaces where they’re not needed. Anything that requires the driver to look away from the road and focus on an LCD screen is just dangerous, plain and simple. There’s a reason that older cars had two knobs and 5 buttons for the radio, and a slide lever for the heat and AC– so the driver could use their tactile senses to control those features while remaining focused …  on driving.

·         Stick to the point: When an automobile has advanced so far that there are more controls for non-driving than driving, something is wrong. In the end, a vehicle is only meant to safely get a user from point A to point B; everything else is meaningless.

To comprehend the performance of a vehicle is to understand the engine, drive-train and safety features. To sell the allure of the vehicle is to assume the user already knows (or is simply not interested in) the basics and instead deluge them in clever (but meaningless) features.

What's your opinion?