Identify Metrics That Matter

Abstract

In a recent scaled agile implementation planning event, senior executives joined the big room planning event and asked the teams why their velocity was low and how they could produce more in the next quarter. When we analyzed the work the teams were producing, we were concerned that the work itself was the wrong work. The teams were focused on developing whimsical requests by key business owners rather than the core functionality of the products. By focusing on velocity (the team output) we failed to notice that we were not creating the required outputs that would lead us to sustained impacts in the market. I found this to be a recurring pattern in big organizations. Actually, the bigger the organization and the more silos in place, the more metrics that are local lagging output driven rather than metrics that shape the success of the organization.