Meaningful Metrics for Agile Teams and Organizations

The old adage “If you can measure it, you can manage it” also implies that meaningless metrics lead to meaningless management and harmful metrics lead to harmful management. When agile methods encounter metrics that were designed-and have organizational credibility-for non-agile processes and practices, the potential for harm is great. Niel Nickolaisen shares case studies and examples to describe the principles of meaningful-and meaningless or harmful-agile metrics. Meaningful metrics favor accomplishment over activity, measure processes rather than people, communicate clearly, and adjust to fit changing conditions. Filtering our agile metrics through these principles yields dramatic improvements in how we manage and deliver projects and services. For example, what positive and negative behaviors do burndown charts drive? How can development teams and leaders use the principles of meaningful metrics to make these charts more useful and valuable? Because we often work in environments that are rife with meaningless metrics, Niel shares his approach for implementing some meaningful metrics in non-agile and change-averse environments.