Agreed, the book is hit or miss in this regard. My take on actionable guidance ..
Step 1: choose a metric that makes sense.
Step 2: set a target for the metric.
Step 3: iterate until you hit the target.
So for "good, clear documentation" the right metric might be "other people using the documentation to do things and/or demonstrate they've learned something."
The target might be set a quiz or asking people to use the documentation to do something, and get a 80% passing rate.
The truly pragmatic thing is to not insist on getting anything right thr first time, to measure by outcomes not outputs, and especially to value the input of other people and be empathetic to your users, fellow developers, bosses and yes, even yourself (no failures, just data...)
Step 1: choose a metric that makes sense.
Step 2: set a target for the metric.
Step 3: iterate until you hit the target.
So for "good, clear documentation" the right metric might be "other people using the documentation to do things and/or demonstrate they've learned something."
The target might be set a quiz or asking people to use the documentation to do something, and get a 80% passing rate.
The truly pragmatic thing is to not insist on getting anything right thr first time, to measure by outcomes not outputs, and especially to value the input of other people and be empathetic to your users, fellow developers, bosses and yes, even yourself (no failures, just data...)