Metrics Archives - unblocked.engineering

Why We Need to Stop Measuring (Developer) Productivity — Part 2

September 23, 2023

Measuring developer productivity is a flawed endeavor; it often replaces uncertain realities with misleading certainties. While metrics can offer insights, they cannot directly quantify productivity. Instead of seeking elusive measures, focus on understanding and eliminating barriers to engineers’ best work. After all, nurturing an environment for outstanding work is a more valid approach to enhancing productivity.

Why We Need to Stop Measuring (Developer) Productivity — Part 1

September 16, 2023

Productivity metrics, once useful for traditional businesses, are now outdated, especially for developers. Relying on these numbers can harm businesses. Metrics can be misleading, causing negative practices. We need to prioritize trust and communication over mere numbers. This article urges a rethinking of our approach to productivity.

Measuring Developer Experience – A Balanced Approach

August 5, 2023

Unlocking the nuances of Developer Experience (DevEx) can feel like trying to measure the immeasurable. This article delves into a balanced approach, capturing a comprehensive view of DevEx using surveys, eNPS, retrospectives, metrics, turnover rates, feedback channels, and 1-on-1s.

11 Tips to Prevent Survey Fatigue in Your Organization

July 29, 2023

This article offers 11 practical tips to combat survey fatigue, a common issue when gathering developer experience insights. Key strategies include clarifying survey purpose, simplifying content, making it engaging, reducing frequency, timing it well, and ensuring optional anonymity. These tactics aim to enhance participation, improve the quality of responses, and ultimately, derive more accurate data to enhance the developer experience within an organization. Be mindful of incentivizing, as it may affect the sincerity of responses. These strategies are designed to provide a more efficient and effective surveying approach.

Ways to Decrease Performance: Velocity Tracking

July 15, 2023

Discover why velocity tracking, a popular Agile practice, might be hindering your team’s performance more than helping it. While it might seem beneficial at first, over-reliance on velocity can lead to burnout, overestimation of work, and neglect of long-term benefits. Learn about the pitfalls and start thinking critically about your Agile practices. Remember, it’s not about knowing your speed — it’s about moving in the right direction sustainably.

How to Measure Developer Experience: The Danger of Metrics

June 24, 2023

In the data-driven decision-making world, quantifying developer experience and productivity can be a challenging feat. This article illuminates the possible pitfalls when solely relying on hard metrics to gauge developer productivity. It draws attention to the importance of considering qualitative factors such as job satisfaction and team morale and how an unhealthy fixation with numbers can lead to misleading interpretations. Moreover, the article suggests how to include these seemingly ‘immeasurable’ elements into the evaluation mechanism to attain a more comprehensive understanding of the team’s performance.

Tag: Metrics