An oil change

Sometimes, during the normal course of business, things get a little harried.  There are fires to extinguish, phone calls to address, and other people's crises to cure.

The Quarterly Report can be like an oil change.

You don't really need an oil change all that frequently.  Today's cars can go 5 to 10 thousand miles without an oil change.  But some cars still need a 3 thousand mile oil change.

So, what's the connection?

When you get your oil changed, there is more than a simple draining of the old and replacing with the new.  That is part of it:  draining out the accumulated junk from the past quarter and looking it over.  There is also the review of progress and how we did:  is there water in the oil, metal shavings in the oil, enough oil.  Some people don't even open the hood of their car, so the oil change is a chance to look under there and see what is happening.

Also, not all cars can go 10 thousand miles between changes.  If your company has management turnover, or you are in a period of growth or significant change, you will want to increase the frequency of reports.  Many monthly, or perhaps even weekly.  If you use weekly reports, you will want a quarterly report again to see what changes took place at the weekly level.  This is like checking the oil level at each fuel up in case you are leaking oil.

If you don't change the oil, eventually the car will break.  The lack of an oil change can cause the car to break in many different ways, but the car will break.  This is the same for the quarterly report:  the department can function without a periodic realignment of goals and assessment of accomplishments, but it will eventually stop working.

Periodic Reviews are kinda like oil changes.
-gs