Measure Agile performance for your team
One of the biggest questions in all the organisations – How to measure the Agile performance for your Team? Its a 1000 BC saying - Whenever you go astray.. .head towards the Basics. In today's Digital transformation world how can we ensure that Agile is being followed properly and is measured accurately so that it serves its very root cause. Before proceeding ahead lets examine the following questions as they will tell you why you adopted Agile methodology. The questions are as follows:
** Do you use Agile as a Strategy?
** Do you use Agile as a Catalyst to drive the ROI?
** Do you still need to figure out the Hybrid model where Agile and Waterfall can . work together?
** Do you still need to figure . . out whether to use Scrum or . Kanban or SAFE or any other Agile methodology?
19th July 2009, I signed the ‘AGILE MANIFESTO’ which is a formal proclamation of four key values and 12 principles to guide an Iterative and people first approach to software development.
It was a great moment for me, as I was going to be part of that vision whose boundaries were driven by me within my team and I was e tasked to be the Captain where I can take a stand on those 12 principles and drive the efficiency of my team, my work my software and people around me. It was a cherished moment as the limitations and hierarchies of traditional software development was about to fade and a new world full of cooperation and ownership was about to come where you take ownership of your deliveries.
Exciting times... :)
It’s going to be a decade now since I signed the manifesto. New technologies, new definitions and new ways of working emerged. The word AGILE became bigger and bigger and is growing at the speed of a ‘LIGHT”!!
With time there were ways introduced to measure the performance of the Agile teams which were not limited to measure of the team velocity, capacity,user story points, Agile efficiency, adaptability, Story completion and it goes on.
These are good methods of measuring the performance, outcomes ( business / technical) however can be more effective if the performance metrics links back to the Agile manifesto principles.
Now let’s go back to the basics of Agile software development as stated in Agile manifesto which emphasizes on the following:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
- Working software over comprehensive documentation.
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
- Responding to change over following a plan
In theory we may be measuring the above 4 pillars, let’s go into more detail below. The 12 principles laid down in the Agile Manifesto have been adapted for managing a variety of business and IT-related projects. They include:
As Agile practitioners, I will leave it to you to figure out if your team follows these 12 principles. During any stage of the Agile Ceremonies – We can measure the team based on these 12 principles by creating a simple table. One of the formats could be as follows, where you measure the Agile Manifesto index for a Quarter / Release and report back to the team on the achievements of team and Agile deliveries.
My proposition to you is to give the above metrics a try and I’m confident that you will not regret it. By going back to the manifesto and measuring the performance of your team using these 12 abiding principles you are not only ensuring High Agile standard adoption for your team, but also a great learning curve for your team so that they can lay down the foundation of their work based on Agile basics.
Another advantage is that it makes easy for you to showcase the learning of your team to the wider audience, especially at the CEO level.
Please do let me know if this helps and keep me updated.. :)
Tauseef Jah