Key Metrics Needed to Measure Agile Success
When asked about agile metrics and measuring the success of agile initiatives, I once would have said that teams should focus primarily on two areas: on-time delivery and product quality (with relation to customer satisfaction). But today’s business environment has changed and everyone within the organization – from the boardroom to the PMO to individual agile team members – are changing with it.
Don’t get me wrong–as you’ll see in the list below, those agile metrics are still of critical importance in measuring the success of an agile initiative. But first and foremost, today’s agile teams need to ensure they’re delivering solutions in line with overall corporate goals. And those are changing more rapidly than ever. After all, what’s the benefit of delivering solutions on time and on point, if they fail to deliver sufficient value to the business and the customer?
Case in point: An agile team in a medium-sized software company prioritizes developing a new feature for their platform during their quarterly planning meeting. In true agile form, goals are set, milestones are identified and people with the appropriate skills are added to the team. The team works diligently to ensure they remain on track and the wheels of the agile process turn like a finely tuned machine. Their team planning had every appearance of driving to a successful conclusion.
However, two weeks prior to release, the company announces they’re discontinuing the product line to focus resources on other initiatives. As you can see, no matter how well designed and executed the project, it’s all for naught when it doesn’t deliver perceived value to the business. This waste of time and effort could have been avoided if the new product development effort had aligned with the company’s strategic vision. It is important during planning to include all of the players – from executives to sales, not just your own team.
So, here are five agile metrics for measuring the success of agile programs, in order of importance:
All agile initiatives must directly align with your company’s key business objectives. Value can be easy to ascertain when, for example, contracts are already in place that require specific deliverables and include penalties if they aren’t delivered within a specific timeframe. But rarely are things so clearly defined. More often, you’ll be measuring value to the business with outcome-focused KPIs like customer growth, customer acquisitions, customer retention, increase in market share and incremental revenue increases. These forward-looking indicators change rapidly as market conditions evolve, so make sure all KPIs remain supportive of the corporate strategy.
Still probably the most popular way of measuring agile initiative success, on-time delivery is the goal of virtually every product manager.Meeting time-to-market commitments leads to increased competitive advantage and greater market confidence.
