When evaluating their team’s health, engineering leaders might look to anecdotal data or rely on instinct. While valuable, these only tell part of the story.
By incorporating metrics into your leadership strategies, you can gain more precise insight into how your teams work. Data provides objective evidence that, if thoughtfully interpreted, can help leaders effectively manage teams to produce better software more efficiently.
Within a business, most departments — including marketing, finance, and HR — use some form of metrics to inform critical decisions. Engineering can also reap the benefits of data: these numbers can provide fact-based support when leaders are looking to create alignment or generate buy-in from key stakeholders. Data also offers engineering leaders a starting point for 1-on-1s, standups, and retros with developers — with metrics, meetings, and coaching conversations remaining objective and rooted in fact.
The idea of tracking and measuring developer productivity can feel like micromanaging, or worse, surveillance, and engineering leaders might be hesitant to introduce metrics to the team. In this ebook, we cover key strategies for introducing metrics in positive ways that avoid blame and promote psychological safety. (Hint: metrics give you insight about the work, not the developers themselves).
You’ll also find:
- How metrics improved delivery for engineering teams and addressed biases for real organizations
- Which metrics to track and how often
- How metrics can both reinforce and challenge your assumptions — and why both are good things
For a deeper dive into the fundamentals of engineering metrics, download our ebook.
Want to learn more about how to best address your team’s challenges? Our product specialists can help. Reach out to us here.
