benchmarks
Measuring sticks, essentially
Benchmarks are standards or reference points against which things are measured or compared.
Originally a surveyor's mark on a permanent object indicating elevation, the term now most often appears in business and technology: We need to establish benchmarks for success, benchmark tests compare processor speeds.
To benchmark is to evaluate against such standards.
Expected behavioral standards
- criteriaStandards for judgment
- guidelinesSuggested rules for behavior
- specificationsStated requirements and parameters
- requirementsNecessary conditions for something
baselines · protocols · best practices · compliance · certification · industry standard · gold standard · reference point
Adjusting for measurement accuracy
- precisionAccuracy of measurement
- accuracyDegree of correctness
- metricsStandards for assessment
- quantitativeConcerning measurable amounts
data · statistics · parameters · indicators · tolerance · gauge · instrumentation · specifications
Ordered position assignment
- baselineStandard for comparison
- contrastNotable difference between things
- differentialRelative difference between things
- gapUnfilled space between
relative · parity · percentile · leaderboard · scoring · competitive analysis · head-to-head · side-by-side
Object of pursuit
- milestoneNotable event marking progress
- objectivePurpose or goal
- achievementAccomplished goal or deed
- thresholdPoint of beginning
aspiration · KPI · quota · stretch goal · attainment · progress · tracking · accountability
Rate of motion
- throughputProcessing rate over time
- latencyDelay in system response
- scalabilityCapacity for growth
- reliabilityConsistent, predictable performance
optimization · capacity · bandwidth · responsiveness · uptime · profiling · overhead · utilization
norms
Expected behavioral standards
- criteriaStandards for judgment
- guidelinesSuggested rules for behavior
- specificationsStated requirements and parameters
requirements · baselines · protocols · best practices · compliance · certification · industry standard · gold standard · reference point · yardstick
calibration
Adjusting for measurement accuracy
quantitative · data · statistics · parameters · indicators · tolerance · gauge · instrumentation · specifications · units
ranking
Ordered position assignment
- baselineStandard for comparison
- contrastNotable difference between things
- differentialRelative difference between things
gap · relative · parity · percentile · leaderboard · scoring · competitive analysis · head-to-head · side-by-side · outperform
target
Object of pursuit
- milestoneNotable event marking progress
- objectivePurpose or goal
- achievementAccomplished goal or deed
threshold · aspiration · KPI · quota · stretch goal · attainment · progress · tracking · accountability · deliverable
speed
Rate of motion
- throughputProcessing rate over time
- latencyDelay in system response
- scalabilityCapacity for growth
reliability · optimization · capacity · bandwidth · responsiveness · uptime · profiling · overhead · utilization · concurrency
- strategystrategy, grand strategy, tactics, tactic, tactical
- business metricsconversion rate, revenue, KPIs, sales figures, ROI
- rubricsrubrics, grading rubric, scoring rubric, scoring guide, rating scale
- teachingteaching, lesson plans, instructing, educating, courses
- financebank, CFO, banks, controller, finance
- productivityproductivity, checking off, prioritization, finishing, output
benchmarksguesses
Estimates without certainty
hunches · speculation · wild guesses · intuitions · gut feelings
benchmarkswhims
Spontaneous, capricious notions
moving targets · arbitrariness · inconsistency · chaos · randomness
benchmarksspecimens
Representative items for examination
samples · data points · measurements · results · outcomes
- benchmark testsStandardized performance comparisons
- industry benchmarksSector-wide performance measures