A volunteer repair center originally reported success by counting completed repairs. The total rose quickly, yet some visitors returned with the same broken appliances. Because a second repair counted as another completion, repeated failure could actually improve the center's statistics. The coordinator did not abandon counting. Instead, she added a follow-up question: was the appliance still working a month later? This required fewer repairs to be listed as fully resolved, but the new record exposed problems hidden by the earlier measure. Volunteers then devoted more time to explaining maintenance and checking likely causes of failure. A lower completion count during the transition did not necessarily mean that the center had become less useful. The organization had changed what it was trying to make visible. A measure is valuable when it directs attention toward the outcome that matters, rather than merely rewarding the activity that is easiest to record.