Metrics and performance benchmarks might look like they're about information and data, but it's not so simple. They're really about people. "Wait," you say, "it's just business. Benchmarking is about determining the state of the business, much like getting an annual physical, with a blood test for cholesterol. Or that benchmarking is like taking a photograph of company performance and looking at the picture to evaluate what we're seeing." Yet there are people who strongly resist going to the doctor as well as those who intensely dislike having their picture taken.

In his wrap-up presentation at Cutter's Summit 2005, Cutter Fellow Tom DeMarco noted "the pervasive presence of Mr. Sarbanes and Mr. Oxley at this conference, although they weren't registered." Indeed, every session provoked questions and comments on the subject of the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act (aka SOX or Sarbox) regardless of the keynote topic.