A productivity KPI is a number that compares what a team produced with what it took to produce it. Good ones count finished work: pieces accepted per week, the share accepted first time, hours per accepted piece. A KPI needs a formula and a source. If you cannot name both, it is a wish.
What makes a KPI a KPI
Three things. A formula, so two people get the same number. A source, so nobody argues about where it came from. A target, so you know if the number is good. "Productivity" is not a KPI. "Work accepted first time, from the review log, target 80 percent" is.
Five examples
- First-time-right rate. Work accepted without changes divided by work sent.
- Cycle time. Days from brief to accepted.
- Rework hours. Time spent on changes after the first send.
- Output per week. Pieces accepted, per person.
- Meeting share. Meeting hours divided by all hours.
KPIs that look like productivity but are not
Hours logged. Tasks created. Emails sent. Login time. These measure effort or presence. They go up when a team is struggling, not when it is winning.
Where M-Tracker fits
Four of the five examples come straight out of M-Tracker. Every task has a brief, every send gets a review against it, and the timer groups time by task, project and goal. First-time-right, cycle time, rework hours and output per week fall out of normal work. Google Calendar adds meeting time on its own line, which gives you the fifth.
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Questions people ask
How many KPIs should a team have?
Three. One for output, one for quality, one for time. More than five and nobody looks.
Should KPIs be per person or per team?
Start per team. Go per person only when the brief and review process is stable, or you will measure your own unclear briefs.
What is a good first-time-right target?
Most teams start between 50 and 60 percent and reach 80 within a quarter once briefs improve.
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