The best leadership teams don’t just track numbers. They curate them. Every 90 days, they raise what’s too easy, add what’s missing, and kill what’s wasting space.
Learn more about this simple method for keeping your Scorecard lean and loud; the right Measurables are focused, demand attention, and drive discussion. Use them how they were intended, to be predictive and motivating so you can spot problems sooner, coach more effectively, and lead forward with clarity.
The Scorecard That Ate a Fulfillment Company
RapidShip, a 70-person e-commerce fulfillment firm, launched EOS with a crisp Scorecard of 12 weekly Measurables, our plain-English term for a Key Performance Indicator (KPI). Twelve months later the list had swollen to 39. Every department lobbied for its favorite stat, nobody wanted to discard old ones, and meetings ballooned from 90 to 120 minutes. Focus blurred, red numbers hid in the noise, and net profit slipped four percentage points.
During Q1 planning their Implementer ran a single “Raise-Add-Kill” (R-A-K) workshop:
- Raised four goals that had turned too easy
- Added three new Measurables to cover blind spots
- Killed 24 zombies that hadn’t influenced a decision in months
The new 14-row Scorecard cut meeting time back to 90 minutes, revived attention, and restored the lost profit margin within one quarter—proof that numbers serve you only when you curate them.
Related Reading: Know Your Business Measurables
The Danger of “Set It & Forget It” Measurables
A weekly Scorecard is the heartbeat of the EOS Data Component, but hearts need exercise. Plateaued goals breed complacency. When a Measurable sits green 10 weeks straight, the team stops stretching. Too many Measurables lead to confusion. There’s a narrow range of Measurables people can track with accuracy; stretch it too far, and clarity suffers.
Data Truth #6 in the book Data: Harness Your Numbers to Go From Uncertain to Unstoppable warns, “A Scorecard requires hard work, discipline, and consistency to manage—but it’s worth it.” Discipline means adjusting numbers when reality shifts, not simply updating last week’s column.
Common symptoms of a stale Scorecard:
- Chronic All-Green: Every row hits the goal, yet the Rocks fall behind
- Chronic All-Red: Measurables stay red, and no one seems to care
- Crowded Columns: People scroll to find their line
- Meeting Fatigue: Updates blend into a hum; issues surface too late
If you recognize these signs, it’s time for a 90-day tune-up.
Related Reading: Data: Harness Your Numbers to Go from Uncertain to Unstoppable
The 90-Day Review Rhythm
EOS builds natural checkpoints into the Meeting Pulse. Every quarter, you step out of the day-to-day whirlwind to reset Rocks and hold Quarterly Conversations with direct reports. Add one more agenda item: The Scorecard Raise-Add-Kill. Ask three questions of each Measurable:
- Still Predictive? Does it forecast the result we care about?
- Still Controllable? Can the owner move it within seven days?
- Still Inspiring? Does hitting green feel like a win or a checkbox?
If any answer is no, the Measurable graduates to raise, add, or kill. Leverage this process outline (60 minutes) below. Then lock goals for the next quarter; mid-cycle tweaks destroy credibility unless the business experiences a true black-swan event.
| Minutes | Step | Output |
| 0–10 | Review last 13 weeks’ trends | Highlight perpetual greens/reds |
| 10–30 | Debate predictive/controllable/inspiring | Tag rows R-A-K |
| 30–45 | Set new green/red goals or brainstorm additions | Draft targets, owners |
| 45–60 | Confirm changes and update Scorecard template | Final 13-week lock-in |
Raise: When to Tighten the Goal
A Measurable deserves a steeper target when:
- 80 percent+ green streaks show capacity to climb
- Industry benchmarks reveal you’re lagging peers
- Process improvements freed resources (e.g., automation cut rework hours)
RapidShip’s support team ran “tickets resolved in <24 hrs” green 11 of 13 weeks at 80 tickets. They raised the goal to 95, added canned responses, and watched NPS rise six points. A stretch ignites innovation; complacency smothers it.
Tip: Raise incrementally, 10% to 20%, not 50. Shock jumps invite burnout.
Add: Spotting Blind Spots
Surprise crises expose missing leading indicators. A sudden cash pinch? A “collections” Measurable may be absent. Quality recalls? Perhaps “first-pass yield” wasn’t tracked.
Try to identify the lagging shock (e.g., warranty claims up 40 percent), trace one level upstream to an activity (e.g., production audits skipped), and add that activity as a weekly Measurable with an owner and goal.
RapidShip faced a spike in mis-picked orders. Root analysis showed zero metric on “bin audit accuracy.” They added “random bin audits completed ≥ 25/week,” and mis-picks fell within two cycles.
Kill: Decluttering Zombie Numbers
A Measurable becomes a zombie when:
- Decisions never change because of it
- It duplicates another row (same signal, different label)
- Data is chronically late or unverifiable
- No one claims genuine ownership
- It is always off-track and you don’t IDS it
RapidShip axed 24 such rows. A good rule of thumb is that if a number hasn’t sparked action or tension in 90 days, bury it. Less truly is more.
AI Assist: Draft Raise-Add-Kill Candidates in Minutes
Copy your Scorecard table and paste this into ChatGPT.
Prompt: “Act as an EOS Implementer. Here is our Scorecard: [paste]. Flag Measurables likely ready to raise (≥ 80 % green). Suggest blind-spot Measurables to add with owner and weekly goal. Identify redundant or low-value rows to kill. Justify each suggestion based on predictiveness and control.”
The model provides a starting list. Debate internally, apply real-world context, and decide. AI offers breadth and leadership supplies the judgment.
Meeting Pulse Execution: Updating Goals Without Chaos
Once new targets are set, you should:
- Communicate in the next Level 10 Meeting to explain why numbers changed
- Document updated goals in the Scorecard template and any department cards
- Lock for 13 weeks; no mid-quarter edits so that consistency can breed trust
- Coach and hold weekly one-on-ones if a Measurable stays red multiple weeks
RapidShip’s warehouse pickers balked at the tighter “order accuracy ≥ 99.8%.” A quick training refresh and a friendly contest flipped morale from fear to fun within two Mondays.
Common Pitfalls (& Quick Fixes)
| Pitfall | Result | Fix |
| Raise too aggressively | Burnout, morale dip | Limit stretch to 10–20% |
| Add without pruning | Data overload returns | Enforce one-in/one-out rule |
| Kill pet metrics without context | Political fallout | Explain decision criteria transparently |
| Mid-quarter goal tweaking | Credibility erosion | Hold changes for next 90-day reset |
| Ignoring data-quality issues | False green/red signals | Automate or choose easier-to-collect proxy |
Related Reading: What Gets Measured, Gets Managed
Run a Raise-Add-Kill Deep Dive
If your Scorecard’s getting noisy or your team’s just going through the motions, you don’t need a total rebuild. You need a fresh lens. Here’s how to reset your Scorecard in seven days using the Raise-Add-Kill framework:
Day 1: Export the last 13 weeks of Scorecard data. Highlight any rows that ran green ≥80% of the time or stayed stubbornly red.
Day 2: Mark those rows and flag patterns like predictable wins, chronic underperformance, or metrics that spark zero action.
Day 3: Schedule a 60-minute workshop with your leadership team. Come ready to debate what’s still working and what’s just taking up space.
Day 4: For each Measurable, apply the test: Is it Predictive? Controllable? Inspiring? Use the answers to tag each row as Raise, Add, or Kill.
Day 5: Set updated goals for anything marked “Raise.” Brainstorm additions to plug blind spots. Assign clear owners for any new Measurables.
Day 6: Finalize the changes. Update your Scorecard template and confirm targets, owners, and expectations for the next 13 weeks.
Day 7: Review the new Scorecard at your next Level 10 Meeting. IDS any confusion right away and reinforce why each change matters.
A Scorecard Is Not a Stone Tablet
If things go back to being blurry or overwhelming, there’s always space to make critical changes and course-correct. Take a look at your Scorecard every 90 days to:
- Raise goals that are easy
- Add Measurables that plug blind spots
- Kill zombies that waste oxygen
Do that, and your numbers won’t just record history. They’ll create it. Ready to tune up? Download the free 90-Day Scorecard Template, book your Raise-Add-Kill session, and make every Measurable matter.
