Context and PowerPoint

From a RAND study that I reviewed in the course of background research today: 

Several commanders voiced concerns over the validity of the assessment process, noting that the process is “too numbers focused . . . You end up with a stoplight chart, instead of context.” Many commanders felt that the metrics identified by the local commander were more relevant than those driven by higher echelons that lacked the context to understand the metrics they asked for. These concerns about context are reinforced by the anecdotes of one analyst: "We ended up generating stoplight charts with 14 gradations -- because that's how many colors were available in PowerPoint."