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Not as sweet for your operations as they look!
The phrase “watermelon metrics” is to describe false-positive indicators that distract from the important work of building value. On the outside, a watermelon is smooth, shiny, and green, but under the surface, it is red and very fragile. Similarly, when you have an OPERATIONAL SLA (Service Level Agreement) report that shows all green on the metric targets assessed but, in reality, the customer is unhappy (red) with your service, that is when you call it a watermelon SLA effect.
We care for those who are worried about the watermelon SLA effect, as a wrongly-designed SLA at the end of a year sucks their IT budgets and what they are left with is just the outer- looking green (read the SLA report with all the tick marks achieved). MOURIWATERMELON Metrics Care, the account management teams, especially for traditional service providers, wonder why even after hitting all the tick marks in the SLA checklist , they are unable to sustain their client relationships longer.
Example: In your SLA you have > 98% uptime and you hit 99.9%. However, the 0.01% downtime happened at the most critical time for the customer’s business, causing severe business damage.
The key reason for this effect is poorly defined metrics. Usually, this is recognized only when the customer (Client IT manager/CIO) witnesses that he/she is missing out on significant business functionalities and outcomes that are important to the business and yet, at the same time, almost all SLAs look good.
In this case, you realize that a failure happened (often hidden in the superficial report) in the design of metrics when you sense from the customer conversation that he is not yet happy with what he set out to achieve with the project. We, at MOURI Tech, have Account Managers – a smart engagement manager is set up to recognize this gap – a gap in the perception of the real need of the service and the provider’s view of service performance.
Quick checks to review and refine the SLAs would be: (In an agile project, the equivalent could be to review the product backlog)
We, at MOURI Tech, follow this: “When a measure is a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” So, that is the wisdom that should drive people who manage SLAs from both client and service provider’s end.
Establishing our current position, aiming for enhancement, and tracking our advancement guarantees that our offerings and team deliver distinctive and enduring benefits to our clientele. For several organizations, defining and getting good measurement data is still remarkably hard. At MOURI Tech, effective measurement reflects not only the quality of data and instrumentation but also the tone and culture set by Account Management Leadership. Our robust process and platform empower clients to identify critical outcomes and metrics, ensuring progress toward these goals is transparent and measurable.
“Embrace the red within the watermelon metrics; it’s where true growth and the path to authentic excellence are revealed.”
Srikrishna Chainulu MIRTHIPATI
Practice Lead of Client Services-Infrastructure Services
Our Account Management Leadership adheres to five behavioural principles that cultivate helps foster a growth mindset, encouraging clients to leverage facts and data for informed decision-making:
It’s natural to want to look good in front of clients and Client Managers — popular culture reinforces this daily – and we don’t want to disappoint others who rely on us. With a little introspection, our Account Managers conclude that we have a more authentic need to be great at our processes and get better over time than to appear good at any given moment. When we have that clarity, we are naturally motivated to pursue ambitious metrics and embrace the challenges inherent in the pursuit of greatness of the client’s successes and be a part of their success stories.
When our Account Managers — and their agile culture — are focused on improvement over punishment, it creates an environment where facts and data flow more easily. As an Account Manager at MOURI Tech, we demonstrate that our clients use measurement data to enable smarter decisions on where to allocate efforts to improve the business. Implementing MOURI Tech Objectives , Key Results and Initiatives (MT_OKRIs) across client organizations embeds a culture of measurement within their operational rhythm. This shared framework encourages ambitious goals and fearless progress tracking, fostering a commitment to excellence and continuous improvement. This results in the platform that makes targets and progress metrics a daily norm for everyone
Time equals money; identifying issues early gives clients more opportunity to address them within each month or quarter, optimizing efficiency and outcomes. The MOURI Tech watermelon approach followed by our Account Managers releases the goodness, and it’s the same for watermelon metrics; delve in and find out what’s really valuable. Discovering issues late leaves minimal time for recovery before a quarter or project concludes, impacting outcomes. Metrics in the red tell you where your attention is needed. In fact, OKRI heatmaps help organizations view instantly and exactly where precious time would make a real difference in results. Rather than avoiding the red, lean on fast and hard!
In MOURI OKRI sessions, we sometimes hear clients present numbers that are large in quantity, but which are indicative of nothing — they just sound big. They can deflect attention from truly important small numbers that should have been bigger. At MOURI Tech, if a metric or key result doesn’t enhance customer value or significantly impact outcomes, we focus our efforts elsewhere ensuring time and resources are utilized effectively. . Each quarter, MOURI Tech’s Account Managers critically assess our metrics: identifying what adds real value, determining the optimal outcomes, and devising the most effective measurement strategies to enhance and grow that value..
True friends, much like effective metrics, offer honest insights – even when they diverge from expectations, guiding us toward genuine improvement and success. Avoiding the facts only magnifies them, and dismissing the messenger often leads to missing out on vital messages. Measurements indicating challenges, friction, or low engagement are essential for success. At MOURI Tech, our Account Managers embrace such insights as the constructive feedback needed to thrive. These behaviors embody intellectual honesty, employing it to accurately identify, propel, and evaluate value. Results data serves not only as a historical record but as a guide for future actions. Swift and clear insights into progress toward key results enable you to swiftly and effectively reach your optimal outcomes.