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Are you working hard, but unsure your efforts stack up
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against the bigger picture?
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Let's decode the scoreboard that runs your company and why it matters to your career.
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Welcome to Titan of Tech, where we explore the intersection of
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technology and business strategy.
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Today, we're diving into an overlooked, but critical skill, understanding your
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company's scoreboard, whether you're a cybersecurity professional, software
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engineer, or tech manager, knowing how your company measures success.
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Can transform how you contribute and grow a my name is John Barker.
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I am a professor of cyber threat intelligence.
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And also of the NSA approved cyber ethics policy and law
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at the University of Arizona.
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I also serve as a virtual chief information security officer as well
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as a virtual chief information officer for many service based companies.
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Picture this your team hits every technical milestone,
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but at the end of the quarter.
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Leadership seems underwhelmed.
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Why?
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It's not that your work doesn't matter, it's that the value of your efforts isn't
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visible through the lens of the company's, hold on, some business jargon incoming,
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Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs.
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These metrics are the scoreboard.
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They measure everything from revenue growth and customer satisfaction to
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operational efficiency and innovation and understanding them isn't just
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an executive's responsibility.
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It's how you turn your work into visible, measurable impact.
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But here's the kicker.
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Most professionals in tech never take the time to learn this.
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They stick to what's comfortable lines of code, system uptime, vulnerability scans.
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But by stepping back to understand the overall scoreboard, you can align
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your work with the strategic goals and showcase your value in terms that
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business executives would understand.
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Think of these as the metrics that leadership reviews determine
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whether the company is winning.
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Or losing.
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It's easy to assume that this doesn't apply to you.
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After all, you're not in sales or on the executive team.
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But here's the truth.
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The more you align your daily work with these metrics, the more visible and
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valuable your contributions become.
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For example, if your automation project reduces downtime framing, framing it
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as saving X amount of hours, which improves operational efficiency,
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that's how you connect your tech work to the company's scoreboard.
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So, let's say you had a, uh, uh, an efficiency project and
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you saved your company 10 hours of work per employee per week.
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Your company has 10 employees.
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The average cost of those employees, let's say it comes out to a hundred
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dollars per hour for the company.
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How much did you just save your company per week?
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So you take 10 hours times 10 employees times 100 per hour.
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You just saved your company 10, 000 per week.
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So what's the more impactful way to demonstrate the value that
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you brought to your company?
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Hey, we deployed this code.
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We deployed this new system.
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Yay, great.
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Or if you said, Hey, we saved the company 10, 000 per week by doing XYZ.
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It's going to make it more powerful for those non technical managers.
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So let's break down some of the most important financial
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metrics that executives track.
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These numbers influence investment decisions, hiring, and even
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layoffs, as we're seeing now.
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If you want to stay ahead, pay attention to these metrics.
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Obviously, you've got overall revenue.
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The total income before expenses, you've got profit margin, how much of that
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revenue turns into actual company profit.
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You also have EBITDA, Earnings Before Interest, Taxes,
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Depreciation, and Amateurization.
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And you also have burn rate, which is pretty much how fast is the company
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spending his cash reserves, or if you're working on a specific project,
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how fast are you spending the money that was budgeted for that project?
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So some financial numbers aren't the only key indicators, the operational metrics,
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such as customer acquisition cost turn rate can signal whether a company is
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growing substantially or struggling.
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So you've got other things such as.
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What's the, what, how much does it cost to acquire a new customer,
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which you may hear is the term CAC, or customer acquisition cost.
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You may hear what is the customer's lifetime value, so the total revenue
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from a customer over a period of time, how long do they averagely stay as a
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customer of your business, which then turns into what's the churn rate,
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what's the percentage of customers.
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Who leave after or over a given time period or other productivity metrics.
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So measuring efficiency and output and just kind of the various departments
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learn the scoreboard.
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Start by asking to attend meetings for performance metrics are discussed.
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Ask questions like how do we define success this quarter or what's
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driving customer retention or just understanding leadership, how they
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see things at that bigger picture,
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so translate your impact.
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Once you know the metrics, map your work to them.
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For instance, a software update might enhance user experience,
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contributing to customer satisfaction, reducing the churn rate.
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They'll stay a customer longer.
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A security enhancement might reduce risks.
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Which protects revenue and brand trust.
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Tech professionals often struggle to articulate the
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business value of their work.
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For example, reducing server response time isn't just a technical achievement.
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It improves the customer's experience, leading to higher satisfaction scores.
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Similarly, automating a repetitive task doesn't just save time.
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It allows the company to reallocate resources toward more innovation.
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So this is a communication gap between non technical leadership and you.
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And they won't spend the time to learn what you do.
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They don't care about IP addresses.
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They don't care about Python code.
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They don't care about firewall firmware.
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But you need to spend the time to speak their language.
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Less zeros and ones and more dollars and cents.
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The key is to tell the story of your work in terms of outcomes
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that matter to the business.
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This not only boosts your visibility, but positions you as a strategic thinker.
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Understanding the scoreboard isn't a one and done task.
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Treat it like a muscle you build over time.
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Read quarterly reports from The industry news and stay curious
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about how your company adapts its goals during the course of a year.
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The more fluent you become in the language of business metrics, the more naturally
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you'll tie your work to measurable impact.
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Here's the bottom line.
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The company scoreboard isn't just a tool for executives.
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It's your compass for aligning your work with what truly matters.
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By understanding KPIs, mapping your efforts to them through a financial
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lens, and telling the story of your impact, you're not just another cog
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in the machine, you're a key player driving success for the company.
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And if you're ready to dive deeper into aligning your tech skills
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with business success, check out my free five day business skills
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email course in the link below.
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And hey, while you're here, feel free to slap the like button if you like.
