Measuring Impact with Agile Metrics

Collecting Agile metrics is important so you can utilize your data to both inform decision-making and enable continuous improvement. When looking at which metrics to track, you realize that not all metrics are created equal and, in fact, some can do more harm than good. How do consistently high-performing organizations measure themselves? Ask Data Scientist Nicole Forsgren, one of the authors of the book Accelerate and the person responsible for compiling the 2019 State of DevOps Report. Nicole Forsgren highlighted the “big four” metrics to measure yourself against as a high-performing organization, including deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and time to restore service. These “big four” metrics in the 2019 State of DevOps report are among the many we at Excella recommend you track so you can find actionable and meaningful insight in your data.

Knowing what to measure, and what those measurements can and cannot tell us, is an Excella core competency. Our expertise is based on our own experiences as practitioners, along with the deliberate application of metrics such as those mentioned in the State of DevOps Report. When you start tracking metrics, it is sometimes difficult to know which questions your data answers and how to turn your data into actionable intelligence. There’s importance in collecting and tracking multiple data points across different business goals, but you want to focus your effort on the data points that will solve your business problems.

Dive into choosing the right Agile metrics for your unique team or organization and find the questions that your metrics can help answer. In this guide to Measuring Impact with Agile Metrics, we’ve outlined four categories of Agile Metrics that help you focus on answering specific questions and give your organization the opportunity to make data-driven decisions based on the results. Learn about metrics in each of these four major categories:

• Collaboration Metrics – intra-team and cross-team effectiveness and employee morale
• Delivery Metrics – delivery cadence and system availability
• Quality Metrics – ability to deliver working products
• Value Metrics – the ROI and customer satisfaction of delivered products