This article describes the underlying philosophy of knowing the people planning (KPP) and gives an example of a practical approach to measure people's recovery in terms of consumer identified outcomes leading to the improvement in the effectiveness of mental health and addiction services in Hawke's Bay. KPP provided a valuable approach to planning service delivery by measuring key variables of service delivery based on consumer determined key features and a means to describe the quality improvements implemented in services in Hawke's Bay. Practitioners were directly involved; the key was to identify gaps and work with stakeholders to create solutions to facilitate better and improved recovery outcomes.