Too many targets is a sign you haven’t chosen

When reviewing county Bus Service Improvement Plans (I know how to live…), I noticed that Derbyshire had 26 targets in its BSIP and Norfolk had five. Guess which one felt like a strategy.

It’s tempting to list everything that matters. Reliability, integration, environment, punctuality, satisfaction… but when everything is important, nothing is prioritised. You create a checklist, not a compass.

Clarity isn’t just cleaner, it’s cheaper. It avoids scattergun delivery and makes results easier to judge.

👉 Here’s last week’s post on the impact of BSIPs

Take Action

If you’re a leader:

Cut your success metrics down to the minimum needed to make good trade-offs. Five is better than fifteen.

If you’re a team member:

When every goal feels urgent, pay attention to trade-offs as made in the real world. Which ones get protected? That’s your clue to where the organisation really cares.