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Complete visibility into time & dollars spent
Create meaningful reports and dashboards
Set targets and get notified of delivery risks
Track and forecast all deliverables
Create and share developer surveys
Align and track development costs
First - there is no one-size-fits-all set of metrics that works across companies and product lifecycles. The metrics you prioritize should directly align with your current goals and objectives. Are you focused on increasing efficiency? Then cycle time and deployment frequency may be paramount. Launching a new product? User adoption, engagement, and revenue metrics take precedence over pure engineering output.
Regardless of the specific metrics, less is often more. Aim to identify your 4-6 key focal metrics for any given period rather than attempting to measure everything. This focused approach prevents overwhelming your team with too much data. It also allows you to be more deliberate about what you intend to actively monitor and manage towards.
When selecting metrics, look for areas of natural tension or friction. For example, balancing speed of delivery (deployment frequency) against quality (change failure) or sprint attainment (commit vs complete) vs. sprint stability (limited in sprint changes). This balanced approach ensures you aren't optimizing for one factor like speed to the detriment of other critical components like a stable product experience.
The above are a sample of metrics to get started with. Ultimately, you want to make sure you are measuring things that your customers would genuinely care about - speed and quality are often good candidates for this. In the longer term - comparing actual product usage against projected targets could represent a meaningful view and should be considered as metrics mature.
The metrics you choose to measure and manage should be intentional and adapt as your priorities shift. There is no one-size-fits-all. An efficiency play might call for measuring cycle time, while a new product launch may prioritize user adoption and engagement over engineering speed.
The key is to be deliberate about what you measure based on your current goals and priorities. Look to mature & master your use of metrics and the corresponding business goals you have. If it's not something you are actively monitoring and managing as a top line goal, there's no point measuring it. By defining clear metrics upfront, you'll ensure you can adequately manage what matters most.
Contact us today to Manage through measures!