UK Food manufacturer with 4000 FTEs with factories in 10 locations

“I was specifically concerned with the business’s sole focus on short-term ‘outputs’, as opposed to medium and long-term ‘inputs’ which I saw as predictors of future performance. I was also concerned at the lack of teamwork and confusing terminology (in-company slang) which created division, confusion and a bit of a blame culture. Needing some inspiration, I read up on business improvement theory and came across David’s work.”

“We asked a senior manager to lead the change programme working with, and mentored by, David. This took the form of a series of sessions where the manager and David, working with a number of key stakeholders, participated in a small number of workshops and project planning meetings. The culmination of which was a full rollout of the KPI methodology across the business.”

“David, using webinar technology, was able to deliver the training, in 2.5 hours sessions, to multiple locations simultaneously, with breakout sessions where groups could germinate, share and develop their ideas. The webinar sessions helped garner buy-in from the executives, and helped deliver results quickly. Alongside this steering group, we established a KPI team to do the ‘heavy lifting’ and to ensure the intent was cemented into daily working patterns. This KPI team remain today providing the entire business with KPI reporting on a daily basis.”

“I would recommend this methodology to all CEO’s who are seeking to more easily see the granular performance of their business. We’ve moved from being a backwards looking business, where teams politick and marked their own homework to a more lithe and forward looking company, with live and objective reporting which guides us to focus on the things that are important and we can control. ”

Mike Snell, Managing Director, IPL

“Having an external and objective guide in the shape of David’s work was instrumental in us launching our KPI Office. Utilising an external and objective view allowed us to approach the implementation with much more empathy and ensure a smoother entry into the cadence of the business.”

“Having an external mentor and sounding board was crucial for a right first-time implementation. This was our first and only venture into launching a KPI venture, something David had done countless times.”

“We implemented pretty much exactly to David’s guide, and I’d suggest that the implementation is agnostic to the nature of business you are running.”

“The three hardest things in the project that we overcame were (i) gaining cultural acceptance that we needed to introduce better measurement, (ii) turning the business into a “receive, not run” reporting culture (iii) identifying a data visualization platform which was easy to implement.”

“Our KPI team now exists of 5 analysts who operate a business partner model whereby each analysts partners with a division. Their tasks are three fold…..(i) provide the required measures for that column of the org to succeed, (ii) provide easy to interpret and visualise insight into their current performance and (iii) collaborate with their business partners on creating actions to improve performance using the aforementioned data and insight.”

“The main benefits we have seen from the KPI project have been educating the business that measurement is not a bad thing. In fact the achievement we are proud about is that we now have a culture where people want to be measured.”

Jordan Steane, KPI Team Leader, IPL

Global Consumer Finance Business

“I first became aware of David’s KPI methodology some years ago in the UK. When we were planning for our recent annual Executive offsite, we wanted to engage in a different way with KPI’s and David’s methodology came to mind. Our Executives originate from both large and small financial organisations and we’d all seen different approaches to KPI’s in our prior professional lives. What we all really wanted to do this time was try and break from the backward-looking measures of the past and instead identify measures that informed our chosen future.”

“In working with David he brought a refreshing approach to the identification and implementation of relevant and tailored KPI’s that you and your teams can engage with.”

“I would recommend this methodology to all Executives who are looking to break free from KPI’s that have previously delivered poorer performance outcomes than you and your teams deserve.”

Cameron Small, Group CFO

“I was brought in to lead & implement this particular project after our global executive had spent nearly two days at an offsite getting an overview of David’s methodology and ascertaining the corporate CSFs pertinent to our particular business.  I was joined by a colleague who was an L&E professional working in our head office Human Resources team.  Although we were based in different countries and had never previously met, we managed to build & maintain a team camaraderie through daily communication and frequent video calling.”

“The CSFs were the backbone to the overall project. When we presented them to employees around the world, we found they resonated with all regions and all lines of business. It was certainly easier to build a framework when the starting point was communal and knowing the executive had invested valuable time in determining the CSFs added tremendously to buy in.”

“David was instrumental in training our two person KPI leadership team. He co-presented with us on the first two workshops (Australia & Korea) where we instructed on the methodology and gathered performance measures from all participants.  We took over presenting from that point for the remainder of our global workshops and found the templates provided were particularly helpful. David had done a tremendous job in imparting his knowledge and instilling confidence in us.”

“David’s KPI book (third  edition) was our reference manual. We used it as a guide when questions and thoughts came out of the crowd that we struggled to handle – the topic was always covered in the book.”

“Throughout the project I found David’s mentoring useful and would recommend that all KPI team leaders access a suitable external mentor.”

“We followed the process as laid out in the KPI book with the exception that we ultimately determined we could successfully implement fewer KPIs in our organization and still significantly increase monitoring of our performance outside of historical financial metrics.”

“The three hardest things in the project that we overcame were 1) buy in from all senior leadership which was necessary to ensure success 2) inconsistencies with systems and processes amongst our operating regions, as our growth was mainly via acquisitions vs organic and 3) ensuring the project got top attention given all the challenges facing the organization and competing priorities for time.”

“The KPI team has now grown with multiple KPI Champions in each global operating region/line of business and our main tasks ahead are refining the dashboard and continuing to implement some of our ‘newest’ performance measures that are an innovative way of managing the organization.”

Susan MacDonald, KPI Team Leader

Feedback from other users

“We worked with David Parmenter’s methodology since 2013. The ‘winning KPIs’ methodology works extremely well alongside the implementation of ‘lean’ in our business. I wholeheartedly recommend this book and methodology to those who have been tasked with developing KPI’s that can change behaviors and deliver a broad range of improved business results.”

Louise O’Connell, Strategy and Performance Manager, Nelson Management Limited

“David’s methods for the development and implementation of KPIs is straightforward, clear, and above all else, practical. Anyone interested in implementing KPIs for the first time in his or her organization will find this book an invaluable resource.”

Suzanne Tucker, CEO, The CFO Edge, Inc.

“David’s KPI methodology is easy to understand and share, and facilitates the identification and implementation of KPIs in any business. His approach drives improvement in operational performance.”

Scott Hodge, President and Performance Architect, Associates in Management Excellence

Reviews from readers

“Great, informative, practical… Worths much more than many available training programs on Performance and Strategy Management out there… Highly recommended…”

Good investment by Nenad Juhas

“I have read both the 3rd and the 4th editions of this book. Firstly, this book clearly defines what a KPI is and the myths around KPIs. Different types of measures and how to report them are clearly explained. Also, the author introduces to a concept called Critical Success Factor (CSF) – what it is and why is it so important to organizations and why all KPIs should be derived from CSFs. Comparing to 4th edition (I call the 4th edition as KPI yellow bible), exercises are there on wording measures, a new chapter is introduced on measures characteristics and I feel overall it is more organized. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in setting up KPIs in their organization.”

Amazing book … author (David Parmenter) is truly a king of KPI by Theju Mudda

“Breathtaking in its simplicity and profound in its impact, “Key Performance Indicators” (KPI) distills the balanced scorecard process into twelve logical steps, equipping users with an implementation resource kit that includes questionnaires, worksheets, workshop outlines, and a list of over 500 performance measures. Author David Parmenter provides you with everything you need to master and implement a KPI-driven strategy.”

Unknown Reviewer

“Getting your performance measures right is vitally important to the performance of your organisation and will mean the difference between success and failure. All too often I see organisations drown in a sea of useless measures (analysis paralysis) with no clear focus. Other organisations see measures as something only the bean counters should do.

Providing a complete A-Z cookbook, this book sets the standard for any organisation developing their performance measures and will soon be recognised as the definitive work on this subject.

For anyone wanting to develop a new set of measures or simply overhaul the existing set this book really is a must-read. If you only ever buy one book on performance measures – buy this one.”

A Masterpiece – Mr. Thomas J. Morgan “b00k worm” (Glastonbury)

“I read this book in order to get up to speed on KPI based reporting systems prior to implementing one. There are excellent suggestions and guidlines that steer you in the right direction. The authors writing style is excellent.”

If you are implementing a KPI based reporting system buy this book – G Mason (East Anglia, UK)

“Mr. Parmenter’s book/manual helped me to better understand KPIs. The book offers a step-by-step process to help any organization set up KRIs, KPIs and PIs to allow top management to manage and employees to be empowered and to realize their effect on the organizations goals. Well worth reading! I’m hoping our organization will try this methodology and become a trend-setter in our industry.”

A “manual” to help define your KPIs – Lee (Cincinnati, OH)

“It promised key performance indicators and it actually provided them. Easy to read, good format.”

Everything it promised to be – Mel (So Cal)

“This was a very easy concise yet comprehensive framework and structure for developing and implementing KPI’s. It distinguishes true KPI’s from performance indicators or results indicators which people gravitate to as they think they are KPI’s. This laid out a logical framework to follow. It is an easy read and provides many checklists as well as sample KPI’s”

Great Framework for Developing and Implementing KPI’s – S. Boisjoly (Toronto Canada)

“This book got to the encounter of my longings. Very didactic, clear and objective, with certainty it will join value to my projects.”

More practical impossible! – Fernando Landim (Brazil)

“The main purpose of this book is to be a practical methodology to implement KPIs, and it does this reasonably well.

I would say that many recommendations throughout the book will be of good use, although there are several concepts that are applicable in a cultural environment that is more common to multinational companies or very large local companies.

The best chapter of this book is the first, where David Parmenter discusses the concept of a KPI, from a practical point of view. He divides indicators in three basic types, that makes sense and help understand them:

• KRI – Key Results Indicator
• PI – Performance Indicator
• KPI – Key Performance Indicator

In this chapter, he emphasizes the fact that KPIs are just the few main indicators that management of a business must identify, so that they focus on the right things… Something to remember all the time when you are implementing BSCs, Dashboards and the like.

The proposed approach behind this methodology is a practical one. It is for those that want faster results. The final phrase of the book could be: “roll up your sleeves and put KPIs to work as fast as you can”.”

A rational methodology to implement KPIs РJose Ernesto Passos (Ṣo Paulo, SP Brazil)