Executive KPIs That Actually Matter

Executive KPIs That Actually Matter is a practical guide for technology executives who want to measure IT performance in ways that truly reflect business value. Rather than drowning in dashboards, this book shows how to create a concise, outcome-driven KPI set that ties every metric to strategy, risk, and results. Designed for CIOs, IT Directors, and senior engineering leaders, it bridges the gap between operational data and executive decision-making. Each chapter turns KPI theory into actionable playbooks that help you define, measure, and communicate what success really means for technology teams. Through ten clear, field-tested chapters, you'll learn how to: Align IT metrics directly to business outcomes like revenue growth, risk reduction, and customer satisfaction. Build a compact, executive-ready KPI set that drives accountability and clarity instead of noise. Define and validate reliable, auditable metrics with clear ownership, thresholds, and escalation paths. Instrument trustworthy data pipelines, ensuring accuracy, traceability, and governance for every KPI. Measure delivery and velocity in a way that balances speed with reliability and customer outcomes. Build security and compliance KPIs that communicate risk and support informed investment decisions. Monitor operational health and technical debt to prevent future incidents and hidden costs. Design dashboards and governance routines that focus on decisions, not decoration. Create a sustainable review cadence that keeps KPIs relevant, consistent, and impactful. Use KPIs to drive continuous improvement and strategic alignment across the organization. This guide combines technical depth with executive clarity. It includes frameworks for defining metrics, sample KPI formulas, governance templates, and examples from real enterprise IT environments. You'll learn how to avoid vanity metrics, establish measurement discipline, and turn KPI data into trusted inputs for executive decisions. Whether you're modernizing IT operations, scaling agile delivery, or reporting to the board, Executive KPIs That Actually Matter gives you the tools to transform how technology performance is measured and communicated. By the end, you'll have a KPI program that enhances trust, transparency, and alignment—helping you make better decisions faster and prove IT's true strategic value. Because what gets measured should actually matter.