# Experience Point:  That which is measured improves.



## delericho (May 8, 2013)

"That which is measured improves."

That's very true. But...

It's very important to make sure you're measuring the _right_ things in the _right_ way. Otherwise, you can end up with a set of statistics that look really good, but that end up being utterly soulless. (And this is especially important with RPGs, where so much of the important stuff is hidden in the 'intangibles'.)

The best example of this is probably movie sequels, where the studios work very hard to identify what people liked about the original, and then make sure to put more of that stuff in the sequels. Because "more good stuff" must make for a better film, right? And so we get films like "Star Trek: Nemesis", where they try really hard to recreate Khan (again)... and it falls utterly flat because there's a lot more to the success of "Wrath of Khan" than just noting that he was a cool bad guy.

All that said, though, provided you do measure the right things and in the right way, measuring them is incredibly valuable.


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## Riggs (May 8, 2013)

I think that setting metrics to monitor and review are usually helpful in some way even if they are flat-out poor measurements, if only to reveal that better measurements are needed and possible.  
I have taken the SF2.0 and Kolbe A and you aren't going to have to worry about imperfect measurements.  Neither pigeonhole you or try to wow you.  The "aha" will be that you knew these things about yourself all along without realizing it was important or even "a thing".  

That was my point, the following is purely an example from me:
*tl;dr* = I have used what I have learned from these tests and recommend them.

One example I notice all the time about myself, I learned from the SF test.  I have "Maximizer" which means I am strong at taking good things and making them great, and less so at taking something from basic to good.  I coach youth soccer, and I can get frustrated at times that while I can easily teach a skilled player an advanced nuance of the game, I find it difficult to get new players advancing with the basics.  It is very helpful to remember that while I may find it easy to coach a skilled player the finer points of bending the ball or keeper throws, it is tougher for me to connect with the new kids and get them to embrace good passes and positioning.  When one knows their areas of strength, it can also mean that career options that seem ill-fitting or unattainable may have other options that would have been missed or dismissed without this knowledge (i.e. I might not be great at coaching beginner ages, but I could coach older kids or adults, find a position coach job at a school, etc.)


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