2. @MarkAtScale
Why is this important?
Agile promises
“Increased productivity”
but we try to measure it
all the wrong ways!
3. @MarkAtScale
The Velocity Fallacy
Story 1:
Dig Hole 1
Size: 5
Story 1:
Dig Hole 2
Size: 8
Story 3:
Fill in Hole 1
Size: 5
Story 4:
Fill in Hole 2
Size: 8
Story 5:
Dig Hole 3
Size: 13
Sprint 1 Sprint 2
Velocity: 13 Velocity: 26
Is the Team really twice as productive in Sprint 2?
7. @MarkAtScale
1. No measurement
“Teams do not measure the impact of their work.
Or, if it happens, it is done in isolation by the
product management team and selectively
shared.”
“You have no idea if your work worked”.
Source: John Cutler, Hackernoon.com
8. @MarkAtScale
3. Success Theater around
shipping
“Little discussion about impact. You can tell a
great deal about an organisation by what it
celebrates”
Source: John Cutler, Hackernoon.com
9. @MarkAtScale
4. Infrequent acknowledged
failures
“No removed features. Primary measure of
success is delivered features, not delivered
outcomes. Work is rarely discarded in light of
data and learning.”
Source: John Cutler, Hackernoon.com
10. @MarkAtScale
5. No connection to core metrics
“Infrequent discussions about desired customer
and business outcomes. Teams cannot connect
work to key business and customer satisfaction
metrics. Impossible to connect iterations to what
matters most”
Source: John Cutler, Hackernoon.com
11. @MarkAtScale
6. No PM Retrospectives
“Product Managers do not conduct regular
retrospectives on the quality of their product
decisions and compare expected benefits to
actual benefits.”
“Developers have ‘passing tests’, but Product
Managers do not. Velocity and output is a KPI.”
Source: John Cutler, Hackernoon.com
12. @MarkAtScale
7. Obsessing about prioritisation
“Mismatch between prioritisation rigour (deciding
what gets worked on) and validation rigour
(deciding if it was, in fact, the right thing to work
on).”
“Roadmaps show lists of features, rather than
areas of focus or outcomes”.
Source: John Cutler, Hackernoon.com
13. @MarkAtScale
8. No tweaking
“Once work is ‘done’, the team moves
immediately onto ‘the next project’, leaving no
time to iterate based on quantitative and
qualitative data.”
Source: John Cutler, Hackernoon.com
14. @MarkAtScale
9. Culture of hand-offs
“Front-loaded process in place to ‘get ahead of
the work’ so that items are ‘ready for
engineering’.”
“Team is not directly involved in research,
problem exploration, or experimentation and
validation.”
“Once work is shipped, team has little contact
with support, customer success and sales.”
Source: John Cutler, Hackernoon.com
15. @MarkAtScale
10. Large Batches
“Without the mandate to experiment, features
are delivered in single large batches instead of
delivering incrementally.”
“You might still work in Sprints (yay, we’re Agile),
but nothing new is reaching Customers at the
end of each sprint.”
Source: John Cutler, Hackernoon.com
19. @MarkAtScale
What is an OKR?
• “O” = Objective
(what you want to do)
• “KR” = Key Result
(how you know if you’ve achieved it)
20. @MarkAtScale
Some guidance on
OKR’s
• “Objectives are ambitious and may feel somewhat
uncomfortable”
• “Key Results are measurable and should be easy
to grade with a number”
• “The sweet spot for an OKR grade is 60-70%. If
someone consistently fully attains their objectives,
their OKR’s are not ambitious enough”
• “Pick just 3 to 5 objectives”
• “Determine around 3 Key Results for each
Objective
• “Key Results should describe outcomes, not
activities”
Source: Google
21. @MarkAtScale
OKRs and Product
Management• Every Feature should have OKRs!
• The ability to measure the Key Results should be
baked into the design of the Feature, and Features
should not be shipped without it
• Both Product Management and Development Teams
should have access to the Key Result data
• Research and Validation activities should test the
OKRs
24. @MarkAtScale
Questions?Book References:
• Radical Focus: Christina Wodtke
• Measure What Matters: John Doerr
Blog References:
• John Cutler: “12 signs you’re working in a Feature Factory”
https://hackernoon.com/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory-44a5b938d6a2
• Google: “Guide: Set Goals with OKRs”
https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/set-goals-with-okrs/steps/introduction/
• Mark Richards: “An Introduction to Objectives and Key Results”
http://www.agilenotanarchy.com/2017/03/an-introduction-to-objectives-and-key.html
• Mark Richards: “Improving SAFe Product Management Strategy with OKRs”
http://www.agilenotanarchy.com/2017/03/improving-safe-product-management.html
• Mark Richards: “Revamping SAFe’s Program-Level PI Metrics”
http://www.agilenotanarchy.com/2017/01/revamping-safes-program-level-pi.html
• Mark Richards: “Effective Feature Templates for SAFe”
http://www.agilenotanarchy.com/2018/01/effective-feature-templates-for-safe.html
