SESSION + Live Q&A

How to Tell Your Boss Story Points Are a Terrible Metric

By setting the wrong targets your boss can set your team up for failure and a lot of long, late nights or early mornings.

 

Metrics and targets in software engineering are designed to assist in the measurement of progress usually against a chargeable contract. But, the measures and metrics in each layer of a software organisation are different and the metrics at the interface between each layer can be misunderstood.

 

When a measure becomes an agreed metric, care needs to be taken that it doesn’t inadvertently become a target, which can result in unnatural behaviour, creating a myriad of unforeseen problems, because incentives are not aligned with the desired outcome.

 

This talk will look at the different measures commonly found in software development, what they’re used for, highlight the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of measuring progress versus productivity and how all metrics should ultimately relate to a desired business outcome.

 

Measurements are critical for ensuring that the development addresses the business problem is was designed to solve. We’ll share stories of what happened when the wrong thing got measured and offer some practical ways to help you, your team and of course your boss!


Speaker

Liz Ince

Managing Solution Architect @Capgemini

Liz Ince has been working in the IT industry for over 30 years. Since leaving University (BSC Hons in Electronic and Electrical Engineering ) she has worked as a Systems Engineer, a Sales Representative and is now a Managing Solutions Architect at Capgemini. She has helped many organisations...

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Speaker

Chris Wilkinson

Software Development Lead @Capgemini

Chris joined Capgemini as a Technical Lead. As a consultant in delivery, he has worked with many large-scale clients in software development, DevOps and architecture roles. Not a typical software engineer, he has a commercial mindset and yet is product focused. Chris strives to find the balance...

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