The Metrics Trap: When Measuring Success Undermines Quality

Last month, I had an interesting conversation with a founder about a classic problem in team operations—a problem I’ve seen crop up more times than I can count.

Let’s use a simple example: imagine a restaurant where waiters are evaluated on how quickly they serve customers once the food is ready. What happens? The waiters start optimising for speed, rushing from table to table to shave seconds off their delivery times. But in their effort to hit that metric, something else suffers—service quality. Plates are slammed down carelessly, orders are incomplete, or worse, customers feel rushed and undervalued.

This phenomenon isn’t unique to restaurants. It’s everywhere, especially in environments where metrics are tied to performance. Spotify Wrapped is another example. Ever notice how some people “curate” their listening habits towards the end of the year to make their Wrapped results more impressive? Instead of listening freely, they’re optimising for how their music tastes will be perceived—because even personal metrics have become a way to signal status.

The issue here is deceptively simple but incredibly difficult to solve. When you measure an action, you run the risk of incentivising behaviours that prioritise the metric itself over the quality of the outcome. What’s worse is that this trade-off often happens subtly and over time.

In operations, we call this the perverse incentive problem. The metric—the thing that’s supposed to drive improvement—ends up degrading the very inputs it’s meant to measure. And it’s not just an operations problem; it’s a leadership problem, too. How do you set the right goals, track progress, and hold people accountable without inadvertently pushing them toward unintended consequences?

The first step is recognising when this dynamic is in play. If you’ve ever worked in or led a team, you’ve probably encountered it. Think about a situation where a goal or metric created unintended behaviour:

• Sales reps pushing deals through prematurely to hit quarterly targets, only for those deals to fall apart later.
• Developers rushing features to production to meet deadlines, introducing bugs that create technical debt.
• Teams prioritising short-term wins at the expense of long-term strategy because their success is measured in quarters, not years.

These are all symptoms of the same problem: when metrics drive behaviour instead of guiding it.

So, what can you do about it? There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but here are a few strategies I’ve seen work:

1. Focus on holistic metrics Instead of measuring one isolated aspect of performance, consider metrics that account for both speed and quality. For example, in the restaurant scenario, instead of just tracking delivery times, you could also measure customer satisfaction scores or repeat visit rates. A balanced scorecard forces teams to think beyond a single target.
2. Use metrics as conversation starters, not the final word Metrics are tools, not truths. They should open up discussions about performance rather than dictate actions blindly. If delivery times are improving but complaints are rising, that’s a red flag worth investigating—not an opportunity to celebrate.
3. Reward behaviours, not just outcomes Teams that optimise for the right behaviours will naturally achieve better outcomes. In the Spotify Wrapped example, the ideal behaviour is listening authentically—not gaming the system. Find ways to encourage intrinsic motivation rather than performance theatre.
4. Regularly revisit your metrics The metrics that worked for your team a year ago might not be relevant today. Business priorities evolve, and so should your measures of success. Build a culture of adaptability where teams aren’t afraid to challenge outdated KPIs.

Ultimately, metrics should serve your goals—not distort them. They’re meant to help us understand, refine, and improve, but they can quickly become blinders if left unchecked. And as leaders, it’s our job to ensure that the pursuit of better numbers doesn’t come at the expense of the bigger picture.

So, here’s my question to you: have you faced this issue before in your team or organisation? What did you do to strike the balance between metrics and quality? I’d love to hear your thoughts.