Metrics as Corrective Lenses

~360 Words | ~1.5min Read

Have you ever worn someone else’s glasses and gotten that queasy feeling as everything just looks wrong or out of place? That’s what using the wrong metrics does to a team. Yet we frequently judge every team in a department by the same metrics.

Metrics aren’t speedometers that objectively show reality. They’re corrective lenses that change what you can see and where you focus. What gets measured gets managed, as Drucker reminded us. But here’s the thing: just like prescription glasses are customized for each person’s vision, metrics must be tailored to your team’s specific context and stage of evolution.

Using someone else’s metrics is like wearing their prescription glasses. The world will look different, wrong even, and you’ll miss what actually matters. You’ll get that same nauseous, queasy feeling where people are trying to move but aren’t really sure where they ought to go. Standard metrics like story points or velocity? Those are like off-the-shelf reading glasses from the pharmacy. Better than nothing, but not tuned to your specific needs.

Good metrics are like having the right prescription on your glasses. They bring the right things into focus. Sometimes you need to focus on breaking less, not going faster. Sometimes you need to see what’s right in front of you, other times you need to adjust your telescope to bring distant galaxies into view, dialing in the precision for what’s far out.

And just like your eyesight changes as you grow, your metrics should evolve too. An individual contributor needs to see the code clearly. A director needs to see the horizon. The corrective lenses you needed as a team lead won’t serve you as a director. Metrics are not the destination. They’re early feedback on whether you’re heading in the right direction.

We ought to pick the right prescription to help our team focus on the aspects of their work to improve at the moment. That won’t be the same for every team, since they’ll all be working on something slightly different.

Want to get started on picking those right metrics? Make certain you [[202401251555 - BPI - Metrics in Tension|put them in tension]] so you don’t create perverse incentives.