What Gets Measured Gets Done…Even If It’s Wrong.

Several years ago I worked for an organization that had a big push to be a “metrics driven company.” They started collecting numbers on all sorts of things so they could make “data driven decisions.” That sounded good on the surface but like many things, the devil was in the details. Now before I unpack this a little more, let me say that I fully support collecting metrics and making decisions based on data. My issue with this particular situation was the company was measuring the wrong things. Here are a few metrics they were collecting.

Who was the MVP on the team this sprint?
Who delivered the most story points at the end of the sprint?
How many hours did everyone on the team work?
(Team Peer Eval) rate your team member’s contribution from lowest to highest.

As you can imagine, people started manipulating the system, backstabbing, and even lying to get ahead. Meanwhile, all of the top performing employees started leaving the company.

The old saying goes that “what gets measured gets done” so make sure you’re measuring what you want to see completed. If you want to have a positive impact on your customers and change the world, deliver value! Measure that. It’s that simple. What value did your team deliver? Every company measures “value” differently but I can guarantee your customers don’t define “value” as how many hours your team worked, who the MVP of the sprint was, or how many story points were completed. They care about the value they get from your product. When value delivered is the metric you track, your culture will change for the better. People are free to be more creative, collaborate with one another, and ultimately live more fulfilling lives! And as a side effect, your product will thrive!