KPI: a rant.

Someone used the initials KPI on the radio the other day. Apparently they stand for Key Performance Indicator.

Now if I only knew what that meant, I might be a bit further on.

Word To Use Today: indicator. This word comes from the Latin word indicāre, to point out (it's what you do with your index finger) from dicāre, to proclaim.


An enquiry of Google came up with this quotation: 

"by setting KPIs the company enables the team to make smart business decisions about the direction of all current projects" 

Right...

Further research suggests that a KPI was previously known as a target.

Ah well. I suppose these bits of jargon are useful for alerting us to the fact that a particular company likes to put its customers last.