How many times have you been asked to deliver on metrics that did not make sense, that were counterproductive to the team's effectiveness, or that were seemingly impossible to collect? Often times, the metrics being collected are the ones that are easy, but not necessarily the ones that matter. When it comes to software delivery, lean and agile practices and methodologies have clearly taken the lead. In the spirit of Kaizen, this session will take a look at the measures we can and should collect from agile teams, why these metrics are relevant and interesting, and how we can use them to help our teams continuously improve. Key Learnings: Why is it so difficult to identify meaningful metrics in the software world? What are the best types of quality focused metrics to focus on in an agile organization? Examples of good, bad, and ugly metrics, as well as how to analyze and interpret them

1. Measuring the right things for the right reasons!
Angela Dugan
Principal Consultant
Polaris Solutions

2. Principal Consultant (SALTY!)
Been doing software since 1999 (OLD!)
Lots of certs (BORING!)
Loves board games and running
Possibly unhealthy love of Halloween?

9. That which is measured will improve
…at a cost

10. When a measure
becomes a target, it
ceases to be a good
measure

14. So what the !@$#* are we
supposed to measure Angela?!?

15. Measure
LOTS
of
things!

16. VersionOne - 10th Annual State of Agile Report

17. WIP
Velocity
Burndown
Cumulative Flow
Team Confidence
Happiness/Morale

18. WIP it good!

20. Anything started and not DONE
Lower WIP = Lower Lead Times
Lower Lead Times = Faster Delivery
Faster Delivery = Faster Feedback
Faster Feedback = Less Waste

22. Is affected by time poorly spent
Is affected by dependency on other teams
Is effected by team’s skill/confidence at estimating
Is affected by too much WIP
Is affected by unexpected outages and unplanned work

23. Velocity is a LAGGING indicator
Velocity is not necessarily a good predictor for future performance
Asking for higher velocity may come at a cost!
Velocity trends are what is valuable  AIM FOR PREDICTABILITY
OVER “PRODUCTIVITY”

25. Can encourage people to “sandbag” if too heavily focused on
“perfect burndown”
Don’t panic or over-react to small jumps or flat spots, instead ask
questions
Watch for smells in process that protect the burndown like
delaying bug-fixing or shrinking test cycles

31. The features they are committing to deliver
The code they are committing
Their build/release process
The new features they are about to deliver to a customer

33. huh?

36. Pay attention to how behavioral
changes affect performance and
overall team health

38. Start measuring cause and effect of change instead of just cold,
hard metrics!
How is team WIP affecting velocity?
How is velocity affecting quality?
How is code churn affecting maintainability?
How is velocity affecting team morale?
How is team morale affecting quality?

39. If you’re not monitoring
positive/negative impacts of
things you are doing, what
are you REALLY trying to
achieve?

40. If you’re not monitoring
positive/negative impacts of things
you are doing, what are you
REALLY trying to achieve?
#FixedItForYou

43. “Velocity is not the goal” [Video] by Doc Norton
Lean Change Management [Book] by Jason Little
The Principles of Product Development Flow [Book] by Donald G.
Reinertsen
Drive: The Suprising Truth About What Motivates Us [Book] by
Daniel Pink

44. Email: Angela@PolarisSolutions.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/polaris-solutions/
My Blog - http://www.tfswhisperer.com/
Twitter: @TeamPolaris, @OakParkGirl
Polaris Solutions website - http://www.polarissolutions.com/
Meetups and Briefings: http://www.polarissolutions.com/events/
Angela@PolarisSolutions.com Twitter: @OakParkGirl

45. Recording today at:
10:45am in Rm 102
4:00pm in Rm 102
http://www.coachandbeer.com/
Now on iTunes, Stitcher, and
Agilepod!

46. Building an Agile Culture that Scales with Aaron Bjork.
Thursday June, 8th , 6:00 PM in the Chicago office.
Everyone accepts that agile methods and practices work… but how do you apply
them at scale without stifling the creativity, autonomy, and energy of your teams?
Listen as Aaron Bjork describes how Microsoft has undergone radical changes in
recent years to build a culture of “Aligned Autonomy”. Aaron will share stories from
before and after, and talk about some of the key changes that have contributed to
the new Microsoft.

47. Aaron Bjork is a Principal Group Program Manager working in
Microsoft’s Developer Division where drives all investments in
work management, agile project management, reporting, and
collaboration for Microsoft’s Visual Studio Team Services and
Team Foundation Server products.
Register: http://PolarisSolutions.com/Events
Contact Dave Burnison Dave.Burnison@Microsoft.com
or Angela Dugan angela@polarissolutions.com for more information.

48. August 7th - 9th, 2017
Kalahari Resort, Wisconsin Dells, WI
3 days, 125+ sessions, Mobile, Web, Cloud
Sponsorship opportunities still available
Registration opens soon!
Web: http://thatconference.com/
Twitter: @ThatConference
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ThatConference
Slack: http://thatslack.thatconference.com/