The thesis inquire the meaning of governing technologies based on measuring, and discuss this in relation to New Public Management. The findings are based case-studies of three Norwegian municipality adminsitrations, but also theory exploration. To use numbers, is to employ power, and the use of numbers in organizations is taking sides in dilemmas relating to standardization, quantification, modelling, and accountable communication. This is why it is difficult to criticize the use of numbers on a systematic level, but it is possible when related to one of the dilemmas these four categories represent. Also, a main argument is that numbers can colonize communicative system. Still, the meaning of measurement is ambiguous, and the study finds that translation between different understandings of numbers in organizational governance, is decisive to whether the numbers represent hidden or open governing. Further, through the third article, it is emphasized that numbers are negotiated, and that the one that is measured can, if he has power to do so, negotiate through activating other memberships or cognitive systems. The thesis shows what kinds of power are represented by the use of numbers, and that use of numbers can provide forms of transparency, but this depends on organizational context. This is further developed, by showing that other actors do have power to challenge the meaning of numbers, even when the measurement system is untouchable. The thesis is both a study of practices in measurement and systemized governing in Norwegian municipal administration in 2006, but also a study of what it means, and what we create, when we measure.