Data teams can spend months writing perfect SQL, defining metrics, and building a flawless data warehouse only to learn that you can improve a metric without improving the business.

As one data leader told me.

"Give me metrics, and I will game them."

Not because people are bad actors.

But because once a number becomes the target, the system adapts.

As I researched real-life examples, I came across multiple articles and studies on the performance measurement of the UK emergency ambulance service and the unintended consequences of ambulance response time targets.

If you're interested in learning more about that research or how your data team can improve how they develop and track metrics, you can read the full article here - seattledataguy.substack…