How To Properly Measure Your Data

In this lesson, we explore the essential discipline of measuring data effectively, a foundational step in the DMAIC process. Drawing from Amazon’s own journey, we explain why rigorous data management, real-time reporting, and a culture of confronting the brutal facts are key to achieving operational excellence.

Key Takeaways:

• We built a disciplined system for data measurement: Measurement goes far beyond selecting metrics—it requires clean data, reliable pipelines, centralized data warehouses, governance, security, and standardized reporting tools like Tableau or Looker.
• We invested in an unbiased analytics culture: Jeff Bezos asked our CFO to form an independent analytics team whose sole job was to uncover the truth, not protect orgs or executives. These analysts had both financial and operational alignment but prioritized integrity in reporting.
• We created mechanisms to confront reality: Inspired by Churchill and Jim Collins, we institutionalized a culture of brutal facts—establishing metrics and systems that allowed leadership to face problems head-on, rather than hide or distort them.
• We operationalized this with the Weekly Business Review (WBR): The WBR report was auto-generated by 7 a.m. every Monday, standardized, and packed with hundreds of metrics—enabling every department to identify trends, anomalies, and action items before the company-wide WBR each Wednesday.
• We learned that slow is fast: Building accurate, automated, real-time measurement systems took time and leadership buy-in. But in the long run, these systems helped us move faster and make better decisions at scale.

Ultimately, this lesson shows that data measurement is not a tech problem—it’s a leadership imperative. By treating it as a strategic function, we created a system that helped Amazon scale with confidence and clarity.

To dive deeper into Input Metrics Mastery and learn more from Bill and Colin, follow these links:

• Take the full course at their website: https://workingbackwards.com/
• Buy the book: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595
• Bill's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-carr/
• Colin's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinbryar/