Codermetrics

Utilizing Metrics in the Development Process

If you have successfully moved beyond the trial stage of codermetrics, there are many ways you can make further use of metrics in your software development process. This section covers some of the other ways you can use metrics.

Team Meetings

The most obvious place to start regularly using metrics is in team meetings. This is different than the idea of a “metrics discussion group” presented previously. What I suggest here is that you should incorporate the review of metrics into your already scheduled regular team meetings. In these meetings, you should review the key metrics you are gathering for each team, including Skill, Response, and Value Metrics, choosing the data appropriate to the meeting (as discussed in more detail below).

You may, of course, focus more attention and time on the metrics that you believe matter the most. Reviewing key metrics in team meetings can help drive positive behavior and reinforce a desired “culture,” to the extent that elements you desire are included in your metrics. Repeatedly measuring, sharing, and discussing key metrics is more likely to result in behavioral and systemic changes than, for example, having an executive simply declare that certain behaviors should change.

I don’t recommend that you review metrics with the team on a daily basis. If you are using Agile methodology and your teams conduct daily stand-ups, for example, it won’t make sense to discuss or review metrics in those meetings. Review ...