My first and only reason for getting into blogging some years ago was primarily to just to make money from it, the part where I had to do the good work and give my reader quality information to keep them coming back over and over again, I didn’t really consider that part, and for this reason a chose the sport again primarily because I like football and I already had a couples of blogs I intended to copy from. 

So all I did was copy, copy and paste high ranking content with little to no added value, and in my mind I thought I was optimizing for traffic, but it did not take me long to realize that what I was doing was not working, not even in the small way but in a big very way. No added value, I was copying other people content hoping to share from their traffic because why not it was the exact same article, but of course to the blogging and content writing space I was new, young and very naive, and I like I said it didn’t take me long to realize that I was not just doing the wrong thing but I was also not going my blogging the opportunity to grow, neither was I learning from what I was doing, at least not until, a friend told me what exactly I was I doing wrong. 

You see this very error where what I was only interested in wasn’t primarily about growing and improvement but only optimising or thinking I was optimizing for traffic and in turn generating plenty and plenty of revenue is what most of us do, and it is known as Charles Goodhart’s Law.

This picture might not be clear to you yet and if that is the case, Let’s me try to bring it home to you, so let’s take a moment to imagine a school that ties teacher salaries to student test scores. Soon, the teachers will start “teaching to the test,” students memorize answers rather than understand concepts, and genuine learning will suffer; this phenomenon isn’t just bad policy; it’s a perfect example of Charles Goodhart’s Law in action, and this the risk of measurement obsession.

What is Charles Goodhart’s Law?

Formulated in 1975 by British economist Charles Goodhart, the principle states: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”

What this is saying in other words is that once a metric or an indicator is used as a target or benchmark, people will start to manipulate or optimize for that specific measure, rather than focusing on the underlying goal or objective, like improving, making progress or even actually learning from the system.

This highlights the potential unintended consequences of using metric as targets and this occurs because:

• We optimize for the metric rather than the underlying goal.
• The measurement loses its informational value.
• Systems become vulnerable to manipulation.
• Unintended consequences emerge.

Let’s dive into details with more and very personal examples.    

Real-World Examples of Goodhart’s Law

The Useless Software Tests

Target: “100% test coverage for all code”

What can happen:

• Developers maybe write, run simple checks on very only basics like checking if 2+2=4
• Complex features then go untested.
• Result: Tests passed, software failed.

The Exploding Sales Commissions

Target: “Increase sales by 20% this quarter”

What can happen:

• Sales team can decide to offer between 75% – 90% discounts, without proper idea, direction and calculations.
• Customers then wait for the day of discount fire sales.
• Result: Revenue falls despite hitting sales target.

The Dangerous Police Work

Target: “Arrest 50% more drug dealers”

What may probably happen:

• Officers may then focus only on easy targets and arrest low-level users instead of suppliers.
• Focused on easy targets in poor neighborhoods.
• Result: Arrest goes up, drug trade level remains unchanged.

The Fake Five-Star Reviews

Target: “Maintain 4.8/5 customer rating”

What Happened:

• Employees offered gift cards for 5-star reviews.
• Negative reviews got buried.
• Result: Ratings became meaningless.

The Psychology Behind the Law

During the period of my reading about the Charles Goodhart Law; I learnt that there are three key mechanisms that drives this phenomenon:

• Campbell’s Law: The more any quantitative indicator is used for decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures.
• Cobra Effect: The Cobra Effect occurs when trying to solve a problem accidentally makes it worse; this happens because people find clever ways to exploit the rules for personal gain.
• Observer Effect: Measurement itself changes behavior; again this occurs when the act of measuring/observing something changes its properties, or in this case changes its behavior, character and integrity.

How to Avoid the Charles Goodhart Trap

Use Metric Clusters: Instead of single metrics, track complementary indicators, if the teacher finished the scheme, how many students did very well on the test, and by the test I don’t mean the teacher’s test, but like a more generalized test given by someone else.

Implement Random Audits: Surprise inspections maintain metric integrity without creating permanent targets.

Adopt Ethical AI Monitoring: Like the use of machine learning systems where this can detect metric manipulation patterns.

Rotate Key Metrics: Change primary key performance indicator (KPIs) ( quarterly to prevent gaming the system.

Focus on Results: Shift from but not totally the inputs, to the outputs, the results. 

Goodhart’s Law in the Age of Big Data

Modern organizations face new challenges:

Era	Metrics Volume	Manipulation Risk
1980s	10-20 KPIs	Low
2020s	500+ metrics	Extreme

Recent studies show:

• 73% of data-driven organizations experience metric distortion (MIT, 2024)
• Companies using metric clusters see 40% better goal alignment (Gartner, 2024)

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Conclusion

Charles Goodhart’s Law reminds me that measurement should serve strategy, not replace it. As the economist himself, Charles Goodhart, said “Any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes.”

Action Steps for you:

• Audit existing metrics for Goodhart vulnerabilities.
• Implement at least two anti-gaming safeguards.
• Schedule quarterly metric reviews.

What gets measured gets managed – but only what’s truly valuable should be measured.

Modern adaptation of Peter Drucker

Goodhart’s Law should reminds you that:

• Numbers ≠ success
• Cheating starts where understanding ends.
• Complex goals need multiple measures.

So that next time you set a target for yourself or others, ask: “How might people game this system?”

And always remember to use Metrics as Compass, Not Destination