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How Do You Actually Build a Good Driver Tree?
When we started Valsight in 2015 we had a solid basic understanding but wanted to go deeper. So we simply searched for it.
We came across a presentation by Christian Langmann, from a talk given in 2012. It contained three points we have seen confirmed ever since.
Without a clear steering model you get metrics without context. The question is not which KPIs we need but what we actually want to steer. It sounds banal. In practice the majority of companies still start with the KPIs.
There is no generic driver tree. What drives a retail business is irrelevant for a machinery manufacturer. The starting point is always your own business model, and an honest look at what really influences business success.
Steering relevance before completeness. Do not put every identified driver into the model, prioritise. Which lever has the greatest impact? What can be collected with reasonable effort?
That was more than ten years ago. We have built many driver models with customers since, and those three points hold unchanged.
So the methodology is not new. What is new is how often you now need it.