Agile metrics anti-patterns
Don't make important what you measure. Measure what really is important
Suppose you don’t know how to assess if your product meets the needs of your users. You can’t find ways to measure the value of your features.
But you CAN measure:
Predictability → Let’s make sure to burn the Story Points as planned!
Sprint Progress → How far away from the ideal line are we with our Sprint Burn Down Chart? You are bound to avoid changes, as it will mess up the chart!
Sub-task Progress → How much time is spent on sub-tasks of the stories? Let’s focus on optimizing this instead of seeking ways to be flexible.
% completed → We have great Burn Up Charts that show us how much of the item is finished, regardless if this item is valuable for the customer.
Velocity → Let’s get more stuff done so that the chances are higher that one of the features delivered will be the jackpot!
Time Logs versus Story Point estimates → Let’s make sure that the correlation between Story Point estimation and time spent on the stories improves.
How useful is this?
Are you sure you will get any benefit from these numbers? Aren’t you making these things so important that you forget to focus on value? Aren’t you better off investing this energy in bringing the users into the equation? What about the principle “Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done”?
Measure what is important, don’t make important what you can measure. - Robert McNamara
Always consider:
· What makes your company grow?
· What holds your people back?
And look for tools like EBM and OKR. They will help you find ways to have meaningful measures that look at outcomes and impact. And use them well!
Original release Feb 2023