Lean Metrics… are Lean

In the book Lean Software Development by Mary and Tom Poppendieck, there are a small number of references to metrics: process cycle time, process cycle efficiency, business models. Lean practices focus very much on diagnostic metrics that are used to help people find and eliminate waste and improve value and quality. The other aspect of metrics is to measure up for purposes of motivation and performance measurement.

Conclusions for Scrum and Agile in General

Don’t prescribe specific metrics!

Agile work is about an empirical process where a team responds to change, learns, and self-regulates. An agile team has the power to choose their own metrics for their own self-inspection. For upper management, the single economic driver that is part of the “Good to Great” process should be sufficient.