| Organizations today are increasingly recognizing the | | | | building metrics based on the tenets of agile project |
| advantages and benefits of using the agile project | | | | management principles. |
| management approach in their projects. While most | | | | |
| large corporations see definite advantages in using the | | | | The idea is not to simply disregard the currently used |
| agile approach in project development, organizations | | | | agile metrics but rather to learn from their |
| are lost when it comes to using a well defined set of | | | | shortcomings, improve on their drawbacks, collate the |
| metrics that can be applied to these Agile Projects. | | | | best ideas from the ones proposed and combine them |
| Many organizations continue to use traditional project | | | | with ideas of agile centric approach, to develop a |
| metrics and struggle to adapt various traditional | | | | comprehensive metrics for organizations.The complete |
| techniques to the agile approach. | | | | set of metrics including customer satisfaction metrics, |
| With the overwhelming ubiquity of agile project | | | | reliability metrics, Earned Value Metrics and more |
| management there is an increasing need for a well | | | | process metrics are presented and discussed in |
| structured, relevant and comprehensive set of metrics | | | | greater detail in the paper "Comprehensive Agile |
| that would assist project managers, senior executives | | | | Metrics: a seminal approach for calculating metrics for |
| and project sponsors alike not just simply to track agile | | | | Agile projects" |
| projects, but over time improve the agile process. | | | | It is important to recognize that comprehensive Agile |
| The agile metrics in use today suffer from a variety of | | | | Metrics is the first set of metrics of its kind derived |
| shortcomings and drawbacks. A common issue | | | | from an agile-centric approach and specially suited to |
| observed in the current set of agile metrics out there is | | | | the needs of Agile project management. |
| that they tend to mix up project and process metrics. | | | | These agile metrics have been used in over two |
| Some talk about Quality metrics while others focus | | | | dozen projects within different organizations with a |
| only on Project metrics. Very few also talk about | | | | high degree of success measured in terms of |
| process metrics. All the suggested approaches and | | | | customer satisfaction, product quality improvement and |
| metrics are fragmented over different authors leading | | | | organizational process improvement. Projects |
| to confusion and there is no clear presentation of a | | | | consisted of team sizes varying from 5-7 member |
| comprehensive metrics set that clearly distinguishes | | | | teams to 10-15 member teams using the Agile Scrum |
| and defines project, process and product metrics. | | | | methodology. Overall project timelines varied from |
| Another primary shortcoming is that most of these | | | | projects having 3-4 month deliverable schedule to |
| metrics not agile-centric but adaptations of traditional | | | | projects well over the 12-14 month mark. |
| metrics. Today the most widely used and recognized | | | | We foresee that comprehensive Agile Metrics as |
| agile project metrics are the AgileEVM. However it too | | | | described above will increasingly be used within |
| suffers from this inherent shortcoming in that it is an | | | | organizations using Agile Project development and will |
| intelligent attempt to adapt traditional metrics to | | | | soon become the industry standard set of metrics for |
| somehow "fit" the agile model. | | | | Agile projects. |
| The solution lies in examining the agile manifesto and | | | | |