Before the adoption of the metric system and standard system the standardization of measurement units, trade and science were hindered by measurement ambiguity leading to error and fraud plagued commercial transactions. With the increase of industry and trade, the need for a standard measurement system increased. It took the From the standard definition of the metre in 1791, to the French law of 1795 on weights and measures and much later enacted during the French Revolution, to the foundation of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures in 1875, and to establish the metric system and standardzie measurement. Since thenthe establishment of the International System of Units (SI) in 1960, measurement standards and methods are have been continuously being refined and this process will probably most certainly never end (BIPM, 2019, Franceschini et al., 2019, p. 49-51).

As far back as Around 1775, Condorcet had dreamed of a universal standard that would not be based on any national vanity. 245 years later, looking we could make a similar dream, even though at a much smaller scale. Looking at how organizations clumsily measure the performance of their cybersecurity and IAM practice (just to mention this particular fieldthese fields), I make a similar dream: organizations could imagine a time were organizations would cease to continuously reinvent the wheel and start reusing what is just there: research. The more organizations will reuse it, the more feedback research will obtain. The more feedback research obtain, the more research will progressadopting standardized performance measures designed by careful research.

Such performance measures have the potential to trigger an interesting feedback loop were research would gain access to more data of higher quality and provide organizations with new insights on how to become better at whatever they do.