How do you measure a system's performance after deployment?

1 Why measure performance?

Measuring performance is essential to ensure that your system meets the requirements and expectations of your stakeholders, users, and customers. Performance measurement can help you identify and resolve issues, optimize resources, improve user satisfaction, and demonstrate value and impact. It can also provide feedback and insights for future enhancements and innovations.

2 What to measure?

Performance measurement can cover various aspects of your system, depending on your goals and criteria. For instance, functionality looks at how well the system performs the tasks it was designed for, while reliability assesses how often it fails or malfunctions. Additionally, availability measures how accessible and usable the system is for its intended users, while efficiency evaluates how well it uses the resources and inputs it consumes. Furthermore, scalability examines how well the system handles changes in demand or load, and security gauges how well it protects the data and information it processes and stores.

3 How to measure?

In order to measure your system's performance, there are several methods and tools to choose from, depending on the aspect and level of detail you require. Testing, monitoring, and evaluation are all popular techniques. Testing involves applying inputs and scenarios to your system and observing the outputs; monitoring involves collecting and analyzing data; and evaluation involves comparing performance with predefined goals. Different tools such as logs, dashboards, alerts, or reports can be used for monitoring, while surveys, interviews, feedback, or reviews can be used for evaluation. Unit testing, integration testing, regression testing, or load testing may also be used for testing.

4 How to improve?

Measuring performance is not enough; you must act on the results and findings to improve your system's performance. You should begin by reviewing the performance data and metrics you collected and analyzed, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your system. After that, plan the changes and actions you want to implement to improve your system's performance, prioritizing the most critical and feasible ones. Then, execute them following the best practices and standards for system development, testing and monitoring the effects and impacts of each action. Lastly, repeat this cycle of measuring, reviewing, planning, and executing, tracking your progress and adjusting as needed.

5 How to communicate?

Measuring and improving your system's performance is not only a technical task, but also a communication task. You need to communicate your performance results and actions to stakeholders, users, and customers. Reports, presentations, and stories are some common ways to communicate performance - each of which can be formal or informal, interactive or passive, and personal or impersonal depending on your audience and purpose. Measuring your system's performance is a vital and ongoing process that can help you deliver a better system and achieve your project goals. Therefore, by following these aspects and methods, you can measure, improve, and communicate your system's performance effectively and efficiently.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?