Agile Metrics

Agile Metrics

A metric is defined as a measure or a combination of measures for quantitatively assessing, controlling or improving a process, a product or a team. The focus of agile metrics is in line with the limited size, the team, the current iteration and the current release. The benefits include tracking progress with increased visibility, keeping stakeholders informed about the progress, redirecting priorities based on the current situation, constant improvement and decreasing cost and risk.

Agile metrics differ from the Traditional Project Management metrics. The work done in agile is empirical, which means that the items are measurable and can be estimated while planning for the sprint. Also, the work done status in agile is either done or not done. There is no such status which says 53.5% done. This helps the team to better estimate and benchmark the project, across which the progress can be tracked later. Agile metrics are not the end but they are the beginning of a decision or a discussion. Agile metrics offer several popular tools such as velocity, burndown charts, cumulative flow diagram, cycle time and test reports etc. which helps to stay on track with the project.

Sprint burndown chart is one of the most popular metric widely used. This graphical technique tracks the completion of work throughout the sprint. As the items in the backlog are completed, it displays the amount and the rate of progress. Another such metric is Velocity. Velocity is the volume of work completed in a period, by a given team. It generally measures the number of story points completed in each sprint as a bar chart and the height of the bar is the velocity for that sprint. Another common metric used especially by the Kanban teams is the Cumulative Flow Diagram. It shows the amount of work in each of the workflow states, helps in ensuring a consistent flow of work and even helps in limiting the WIP. Although these metrics provide great insights, but there are some metrics which we should avoid such as Velocity comparisons, story points per day, Individual velocity, LOC etc. These may lead to faulty comparisons and may hamper team’s morale and productivity.