​​​Measurement is a critical part of testing and implementing changes; measures tell a team whether the changes they are making actually lead to improvement.
Measurement is a key element in the Model for Improvement, a simple yet powerful tool for accelerating improvement that has been used successfully by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and hundreds of health care organizations in many countries to improve numerous health care processes and outcomes.
In improvement work, the team should use a balanced set of measures. Plot data for these measures over time using a run chart, a simple and effective way to determine whether the changes you are making are leading to improvement.