Measure and indicator

Define exactly what you're measuring, in what units, against what denominator, and how precise the number really is.

You've decided this is the year you "get good at writing," and after two months you want to know if it's working. But working according to what? Words per day? Newsletter opens? A friend saying a piece made her cry? Each measure points a different direction, and the one you check most, word count, may have the least to do with what you actually care about.

Measure and indicator is the move of defining exactly what you're measuring before you trust any number: the underlying thing (the construct), the unit, the denominator, and how precise and reactive the number really is. The cue is an improvement question with no agreed yardstick. The operation: name the construct ("prose that holds a stranger's attention"), pick an indicator that touches it (percentage of readers finishing a piece, not words produced), state the denominator (finishers per 100 readers, not raw counts), and note the measure's weaknesses, including how tracking a number changes your behavior toward gaming it. What changes is that "am I improving?" becomes answerable, and you stop optimizing an indicator that was only ever a shadow of the goal. Skip the rigor for private practice metrics where distortion costs nothing.