If you don't know how to measure what you want, you'll end up wanting what you can measure. Most often the thing you want to know isn't easily quantifiable, and common proxy metrics are usually poorly correlated with the information you actually need. Measuring the wrong things is worse than nothing—a toxic metric can damage your teams' performance. With the right data, you can change the conversation. Tell your team's authentic story to management, your customers, and beyond. Step away from dangerous metrics that punish unfairly. Quit wasting time with metrics that are easily gamed. Instead, choose effective metrics to get everyone on the same page about what's important. Whether you're the measurer or the measuree, in this session, you'll learn not just which metrics work, but why and how. Our examples will focus mainly on team, project, and program metrics, with theoretical guidance to inform all kinds of measures including portfolio and organization. Understand the difference between true metrics and proxy metrics, and good proxies and evil ones. Discover a framework for evaluating any metric, a Hall of Shame covering some of the worst most popular benchmarks, and one true guide to point you to the very best metrics of all. See some great examples of visualization that make metrics sing, and leave with several concrete measures you can begin tracking as soon as you get back to your desk. Learning Outcomes: * Difference between true and proxy metrics * Characteristics of good metrics * Examples of common bad metrics and why you should stop using them * Great metrics, including counterintuitive ones, that correlate to the performance you want to influence * Some examples of measurements where qualitative, not quantitative, works best

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one metric to rule them all

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3. one metric to rule them all
effectively measure your teams without subjugating them
Cheryl Hammond
Technical Strategist, Northwest Cadence
cheryl.hammond@nwcadence.com @bsktcase

4. agreements and asks
@bsktcase #Agile2015 #onemetric
Tweet your feedback and questions during and after and whenever
http://sched.co/36PX
Submit your feedback please please please

5. agenda
Intro, logistics, agreements
Responsible use of metrics
A practical approach to metrics
Characteristics of and a framework for metrics
One metric to rule them all
Close

6. me
Cheryl Hammond
16+ years’ experience in software
development, team leadership, and
organizational transformation
Passionate about agile, lean, and
making software delivery humane;
not afraid to look silly doing it
From/in Seattle, the other Washington
College (university) recruiter; traveler;
bolonka lover; genealogist; feminist

7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolonka

8. “Managers who don’t know how
to measure what they want
settle for wanting what they can measure.”
Russell L. Ackoff
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Russell_L._Ackoff
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9. oÌ 51
why not

11. “If you give a manager a numerical target,
[s]he’ll make it even if [s]he has to
destroy the company in the process.”
W. Edwards Deming
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12. zF|7VziT
exercise

13. whato1D

14. measuring the invisible
True Metric
What you should measure
Proxy Metric
What you can measure

15. do you know what your proxy is?

16. characteristics of effective metrics
Comparable
Honest
Actionable
Simple

17. exercisezF|7VziT

18. whoo`N

19. audiences
Internal
Simple
Actionable
Honest
External
Simple
Comparable
Honest (?)

20. “Any observed statistical regularity
will tend to collapse once pressure is placed
upon it for control purposes.”
Goodhart's Law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart's_law
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21. power dynamics
matter

22. compare teams… to themselves
Growth & trends Ratios & proportions

23. exercisezF|7VziT

24. how9y

25. lean and agile metrics are simple
Metrics aren’t free
Time to collect
Time to tabulate
Time to pretty up
Tools
Morale
Be sure the benefit justifies the cost!

26. one metric to rule them all
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27. one metric to rule them all
Time to Feedback

28. time to feedback metrics
True
Mean time to stakeholder feedback
Lead time
Cycle time
Proxy
Wait time
Touch time
Work in process (WIP)
Queue length
MTTR⁴
Realize, Recover, Repair, Remediate
Code coverage
Escaped bug rate

29. exercisezF|7VziT

30. whyoÌ

31. evidence-based agility

32. evidence-based planning

33. wrap-upy7qD=qJ

34. agreements and asks
@bsktcase #Agile2015 #onemetric
Tweet your feedback and questions during and after and whenever
http://sched.co/36PX
Submit your feedback please please please

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36. thank you!
Cheryl Hammond
Technical Strategist, Northwest Cadence
cheryl.hammond@nwcadence.com @bsktcase

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one metric to rule them all