Wagging the Dog

You need some way to measure progress. 

So you pick a metric or two. Some KPI’s. 

This works initially because those metrics measure progress to date. History. “This is where we’re at.” And that’s helpful. 

But inevitably, if you use these KPI’s to evaluate your work moving forward, you or the team starts managing to the metric. Optimizing at first (and maybe that’s positive), but optimizing turns to gaming the system. It has to.

Metrics are hints. Shadows and lagging signals. Useful, but in context.

What you really want is a healthier team, development cycle, and business. Instead of pointing your future at KPI’s that may or may not be useful, ask the right questions. 

• Are we making something we think is good? 
• Are we helping someone? 
• Are we helping each other? 
• Are we proud of what we shipped? 
• Are we proud of how we shipped it? 
• Are our customers happy? 
• Is the revenue going in the right direction? 
• Did we earn trust? 
• Can we be better at what we do? 
• Can we be faster at what we do?

Metrics are the tail. 

Don’t let the tail wag the dog.