Reporting on outcomes to multiple bodies with different outcomes structures November 14, 2007
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Accountability, Outcomes systems architecture, Using the approach, Outcomes models, Easy Outcomes, DoView , add a commentIn a workshop the other day the issue arose of how you deal with the situation where you have to report to a number of different outside organizations on your outcomes. Now, this is not much of a problem where the outside organizations don’t make any implicit or explicit demands on how you report. The way to proceed in such cases is to simply develop your outcomes model and report back to them on it.
However, with more and more organizations thinking in terms of outcomes, they are starting to have outcomes structures of various types themselves. (more…)
Increased airplane safety by IGNORING final outcomes October 1, 2007
Posted by Paul Duignan in : Accountability, Outcomes theory & the news, Outcomes models , add a comment
The New York Times carries a story today, ‘Fatal Airplane Crashes Drop 65%‘. It reports that fatal airplane crashes in the US have dropped by 65%. The death rate in 1997 was one in 2 million whereas the death rate now is about one in 4.5 million. I think the level of airplane safety is one of the great administrative, regulatory and engineering achievements of our time. It shows what can be done when people are serious about managing negative externalities - bad things that happen in the course of selling goods or services. This success story illustrates an important, but seemingly counterintuitive, principle of outcomes theory - deciding whether or not a decision was a correct one often does not depend on the final outcomes from that decision. In other words, you can improve airline safety by ignoring final outcomes! (more…)