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3:00pm ACST

The case for key monitoring questions in simplifying performance frameworks

Wednesday September 16, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm ACST

Author: Jack Rutherford, ARTD
Have you ever felt that the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework you developed or had to implement was potentially too complicated?

This presentation introduces Key Monitoring Questions (KMQs); a novel approach that builds on the well‑established logic of Results‑Based Accountability (RBA) to simplify M&E frameworks while strengthening their usefulness for decision‑making and reflection.

M&E Frameworks often become unintentionally complex. In the pursuit of rigour and comprehensiveness, evaluators and program designers can generate long lists of indicators, data sources and measurement requirements. While well‑intentioned, these expansive frameworks can overwhelm those responsible for implementation, leading to delays in data collection and reporting or abandoned learning processes.

Instead of attempting to measure every activity, output or incremental outcome, KMQs concentrate attention on purposeful questions drawn from RBA that the monitoring system must answer. This shift helps teams focus on what matters most by clarifying the purpose of monitoring and identifying the minimum information required to support meaningful learning.

The presentation will introduce four KMQs adapted from RBA and demonstrate how they streamline data collection and support evaluation and reflection:

1.How much was done?
2.How well was it done?
3.Who was affected?
4.How has the context changed?

The presentation will share three key messages:

1.Complex frameworks can undermine learning by overwhelming users with excessive data expectations.
2.KMQs provide a structured, disciplined way to sharpen focus and streamline indicator selection.
3.Using KMQs supports more sustainable monitoring practice, enabling teams to engage more deeply with the data that matters.

Before the session, you will be asked to reflect on your experiences developing or implementing M&E Frameworks, recognising the shared issues that KMQs address.

This session is targeted at foundational and intermediate evaluators, and commissioners and program staff who suspect their frameworks could be simpler and more effective.

Chair

Dru Armstrong

Evaluation and Impact Manager, Health and Wellbeing Queensland

Much of my work sits in the space of finding practical ways to bring systems thinking, equity and learning into public-sector evaluation while meeting the demand for quantification, attribution and economic value. I love the challenge of evaluating in complexity and initiatives that... Read More →

Speakers

Jack Rutherford

Manager, ARTD

I entered into a career in evaluation in 2018, after completing my honours in behavioural ecology where I tried to teach colours to jumping spiders. The first project I ever managed was to develop a Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement Framework for an environmental data... Read More →

Wednesday September 16, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm ACST
Waterfront 3 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Traditional and new ways

Format Short paper
Audience Level Foundational, Intermediate
Industry Education and training, Environment and climate change, Economic development tourism and infrastructure, Natural resources and energy, Community and social services
ID 102

aes26 International Evaluation Conference

3:00pm ACST

Dru Armstrong

Jack Rutherford

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