This week we are staying with metrics and Manning Publications for a chat with Christopher W H Davis, author of Agile Metrics in Action, How to Measure and Improve Team Performance. Why more metrics? Well first, the M in SPaMCAST is for metrics. Secondly, metrics are important tools for teams and organizations when used wisely. Many in the agile world hear the term metric or measure and run screaming from the room. I asked Chris if he thought combining ‘metics’ and ‘agile’ was an oxymoron – he thinks not.
After you have listened, buy a copy of Chris’s book using the link http://mng.bz/r2Og Don’t pay full price by using the discount code podspam20 to get a 40% discount code (good for all Manning products in all formats).
Chris’s Bio:
Christopher Davis has been working as an engineer, manager, author, and consultant focused on innovation since the 20th century. Since coming to Microsoft 4 years ago Chris has been focused on retail innovation with Fortune 500 companies. Prior to that he worked at Nike where he designed the platform behind the Nike+ Fuelband and running apps, helped redesign their ecommerce system, and led their initial push to go cloud native, while writing the influential book on measuring software development teams, Agile Metrics in Action. Currently finishing his Ph.D. in Technical Management designing state of the art working models for human-AI collaboration, Chris also enjoys playing classical guitar and building robots with his kids.
Re-Read Saturday News
This week the re-read of Great Big Agile, An OS for Agile Leaders by Jeff Dalton dives into chapter 2. Chapter 2 begins Part 2 which is focused on the six Performance Circles. Leading is first. Jeff points out that this is the most important of the circles because an organization without strong leadership will not allow teams to self-organize.
Remember, buy a copy and read along.
This week’s installment
Week 3: Performance Circle: Leading – https://bit.ly/2K3poWy
Previous installments:
Week 1: Re-read Logistics and Front Matters – https://bit.ly/3mgz9P6
Week 2: The API Is Broken – https://bit.ly/2JGpe7l
Next SPaMCASTThe next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature a reprise of a panel interview originally recorded in March and aired on SPaMCAST 597 just as the pandemic was re-writing the landscape of the workplace. Paul Laberge, Susan Parente, Jo Ann Sweeney, John Voris, and I reconvene to reflect on an interesting year and the challenges of today’s workplace.
Software Process and Measurement 
December 15, 2020 at 4:09 am
I have always enjoyed this podcast and this episode with Christopher Davis brought out his optimism and energy.
Christopher spoke about his work and his writing in a general way. One thought to make the interview even better would to have challenged him on some of the metrics. It could have been interesting to have him explain more about how his views of agile metrics stand up to the criticisms that agile metrics face.
From his book: “you can get data such as how many story points your team is completing, how many tasks you’re accomplishing, and how many bugs are getting generated” (chap 1.3.1). One thought when I read this: story points your team is completing… can quickly become story points per developer for a given amount of time which I believe all of us would see as problematic.
I’ve had some experience where it is possible to capture data on agile projects but often there isn’t previous data to compare it to within the same company and there isn’t a way of benchmarking because situations are so different. I’ve faced challenges in bringing metrics forward and in getting the culture to accept agile measurements. I’ve heard from senior managers at one company that they know that Agile costs them more and takes longer but that they are getting a product that is closer to what they want than what they were getting with waterfall several years ago.
December 18, 2020 at 11:27 am
Chris, Thank you. On the topics of taking longer and costing more, how do they know? I have seen hard data that is ambiguous or at least highly variable and am very interested in the topic.
December 28, 2020 at 2:22 am
Hi Tom, I’m also interested in agile metrics and finding evidence of cost/time differences between agile and traditional methods. One of my friends is an IT director at a Canadian bank and his team was using traditional methods for a decade before switching to agile 3-4 years ago. The bank sent a team of accountants to observe projects last year and they left frustrated without being able to answer the “is this saving us money” question.
The best that the accountants were able to come up with was that the business users were getting results closer to what they wanted (better results than they were seeing with waterfall) and that it was costing more to do agile and taking longer. The team is still 100% committed to agile because the benefit that the business users are seeing over-shadows the additional cost and time.