
The Worst-run Big City In The US - barry-cotter
http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/fql/link_the_worstrun_big_city_in_the_us/
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easyfrag
Measuring outcomes is hard, especially in comparison to outputs which are
easier to quantify but are different than outcomes. True measures of outcomes
usually can only be tracked over a long period of time, whereas outputs will
give instant feedback.

Look at what has been happening in the schools with standardize testing.
Proponents think they are measuring outcomes (effectiveness in preparing
children to be skilled & productive members of society) with standardized
tests. They are actually measuring outputs (test scores) as a proxy for the
outcomes.

The result is the system being measured will adapt. Schools "teach to the
test" which improves the outputs but we don't know the effect on the desired
outcomes. It may result in children being less prepared.

This is a well known effect in companies that measure individual performance
in terms of outputs (widgets manufactured, # of upsells, etc). The employees
will deliver the required metrics but it often comes at a cost to quality and
customer satisfaction which is a negative outcome to the company.

Which is the main lesson in quantifying outcomes: Measuring the wrong thing
can be worse than not measuring at all.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
"Measuring the wrong thing can be worse than not measuring at all."

I'm calling bullshit on that one.

Yes, measuring the wrong thing can incentivize poor outcomes, but _movement in
the wrong direction is visible and can be corrected_ , whereas lethargic
inaction just lazily drifts into a morass.

You have to measure outcome. Period. We can have great discussions around what
kinds of measurements to have and how to apply them, but money should not go
out the door without some indication that something is happening as a result
of it -- even the wrong thing. In fact, big visible indicators of the wrong
thing happening as a result of measurements is a terrific result. If we're
arguing over measurement, the game is already lost.

Another way of stating this is that let's say I pick a measurement to
implement. It's a terrible measurement, and it causes much pain and suffering.
You come to me and say "This is a terrible measurement and causes much pain
and suffering!" To which I respond "How do you know this?"

So you show me a study -- another form of measurement! Then we have a
conversation about including parts of your study in my measurement, scrapping
my measurement entirely, and so forth.

We cannot have meaningful conversations about management without measuring
things. Once we start measuring things, the world is wide open about which
things to measure. But if you convince me that the act of measuring itself is
broken, we have no further basis for any conversation around performance at
all. Management has no function. There is no quantifiable return for any
possible amount of money I might invest. Very bad.

We don't need to wait around to pick the perfect measurement or do nothing at
all. We need to pick measurements -- any measurements -- and rapidly iterate
towards finding what works best for us.

If the testing system is broken, and I have no doubt that it is, it's broken
based on bureaucrats creating a large, brittle, hard-to-change architecture of
testing, instead of just trying to continuously evolve what works best. It has
failed because we put the same idiots in charge of school testing that were
creating the mess the tests were supposed to fix in the first place.

~~~
bryanlarsen
"So you show me a study"

No, he shows you an anecdote or two. Which isn't worth very much, but it's
more than what you had before. It's not like the original measurement had any
studies validating it either. But it looks scientific: it has numbers!

~~~
JoeAltmaier
But there are so many ways to mismanage a city! I'm sure that makes it hard to
prove one is the 'worst'.

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Tloewald
Golly that sounds terrible. San Francisco must be an unbearable cesspit. Oh
wait, that's right, it's my favorite city in the US, has a better than decent
public transport system, and given a choice many people will pay extra to live
there.

I've heard some amazing stories of mismanagement and excessively liberal
policies (e.g. Homeless people being paid stipends by the city) but there are
plenty of well managed cities I would move out of in favor of San Francisco.
(My favorite post in the linked thread was a comparison of SF to Saudi
Arabia.)

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waterside81
The real article which contains much more detail is here:

[http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-12-16/news/the-worst-run-big-
ci...](http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-12-16/news/the-worst-run-big-city-in-the-
u-s/)

------
arethuza
"millions of taxpayer dollars are wasted on good ideas that fail for stupid
reasons"

I guess that's better than £1 billion on a not-very-good idea that fails for
stupid reasons:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Trams>

£1 billion (and counting) to transport people along a pretty short route in a
city that has excellent bus and taxi services is a wonder of our time - there
are only half a million or so people in Edinburgh so that's £2000 per person
for a service most of us will never use....

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maked00
That kind of money is tiddlywinks for city's and states, the real ongoing scam
is what is called the 'capital expenditure budgets' of these orgnizations.
Massive sums of money, that tend to go no-bid, or fixed bid contracts with the
authorities buddies. Services to constituents get cut, but the capital exp.
budget never gets cut, it is always increased.

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enra
The SF Weekly article is from 2009. Wonder where the things stand now and
after the new mayor.

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pbreit
Do people understand that SF's supposed dysfunction is a major contributor to
its charm? If it is supposedly "worst run" is that something to aspire to? A
lot of people mistake "despite" for "because of" when it comes to stuff like
this.

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etfb
Maybe JWZ is right when he says the city of SF is clueless about business. It
certainly seems to be clueless about the nighttime entertainment business,
which is where his rants and his increasingly bad temper seem to come from.

