Measuring success with Agile metrics

Unlike traditional project management, which focuses primarily on deadlines and budgets, Agile metrics emphasize value delivery, quality, and team performance.

Key Agile metrics include:

• Velocity: Average amount of work completed per sprint
• Cycle time: How long it takes for a story to go from start to finish
• Sprint burndown: Visual tracking of work remaining in the current sprint
• Release burnup: Progress toward a release goal over multiple sprints
• Customer satisfaction: User feedback on delivered features

Velocity helps teams estimate how much work they can commit to in future sprints, but it shouldn't be used to compare teams or push for artificial productivity increases. Cycle time reveals process bottlenecks and shows if improvements are making development more efficient.

Customer-focused metrics like Net Promoter Score or feature usage statistics provide insights into whether the team is building the right things, not just building things right. These outcome-based metrics help product managers evaluate if features are delivering the intended business value.