eBook

Building Your Engineering Metrics Program | Harness Resource

Building an Engineering Metrics Program (EMP) is a complex challenge for most engineering organizations. On one hand there is a rising need to understand productivity with an eye towards unlocking efficiencies and developer experience. On the other hand, there is a need to balance the sensitivity of measuring certain aspects of engineering metrics. Then there’s figuring out which objectives they should focus their efforts on.

So what do you do? The truth is, improving engineering excellence is a journey and focusing on a few objectives every quarter is the objective. If your organization is not sure what objectives they should focus on, this ebook will help you understand which metrics will drive continuous improvement and help you gain visibility into process and tooling bottlenecks.

Published

January 1, 2024

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What you'll learn

Key Takeaways

Balance Productivity With Metric Sensitivity

An engineering metrics program optimizes workforce, processes, and tooling. It must be carefully balanced to prevent metrics from being weaponized or unfairly gamed.

Gain Visibility to Drive Continuous Improvement

Organizations must first gain visibility into people, process, and tooling bottlenecks. This allows them to drive continuous improvement and accurately measure business outcomes.

Select Persona-Based Metrics and Insights

Tailor metrics to specific roles such as development managers, program managers, directors, and executives. This ensures each leadership level tracks relevant objectives like developer productivity or effort alignment.

Establish Clear Metric Benchmarks

Set specific ideal ranges for engineering metrics to guide teams. For example, aim for a pull request cycle time under five days and keep new rework below five percent.

Formalize the Improvement Process

Managers should file specific tickets for improving engineering excellence to ensure transparency and accountability. These action plans must detail the resolution, owner, and deadline.

Implement a Regular Review Cadence

Establish a strict meeting schedule to review metrics and drive progress. Managers and directors should hold monthly reviews, while executives track progress during quarterly business reviews.