Agile Metrics and Performance Measurement

Correct Answer: To help teams plan and forecast future iterations based on past performance

Velocity in Agile is primarily a planning tool that helps teams forecast future work capacity based on their historical performance. It enables teams to make reliable commitments and plan upcoming sprints effectively. The correct answer reflects this core purpose - using past performance data to plan future iterations, which is a fundamental aspect of empirical process control in Agile. The other options misuse velocity in ways that contradict Agile principles: - Using velocity to evaluate individual performance goes against the team-focused nature of Agile and can lead to unhealthy competition - Comparing velocities between different teams is misleading since story points are team-specific and not standardized across teams - Using velocity for bonus calculations or incentives can lead to point inflation and gaming of the system, compromising the integrity of estimations Velocity should remain a planning and forecasting tool that helps teams understand their capacity and make realistic commitments.

Correct Answer: Customer satisfaction scores and feedback trends

Customer satisfaction scores and feedback trends are the most direct measure of value delivered to customers in Agile projects. Here's why: The best answer focuses on actual customer feedback and satisfaction metrics, which are the clearest indicators of whether the delivered product meets customer needs and expectations. Story points and velocity are internal team metrics that measure productivity but not necessarily customer value. They indicate how much work is completed but not whether that work matters to customers. Standup meeting participation and attendance are process metrics that measure team engagement but have no correlation to customer value delivery. Code coverage and technical debt metrics are important technical quality indicators, but they measure internal code quality rather than external customer value. While they contribute to long-term maintainability, they don't necessarily reflect what matters to customers.

Correct Answer: Tracking the number of completed value-driven features per iteration

In Disciplined Agile (DA), measuring team productivity is best achieved by tracking completed value-driven features per iteration because: Value-driven features represent actual business value delivered This approach aligns with DA's focus on outcomes rather than outputs It emphasizes delivering working solutions that benefit stakeholders It supports continuous flow and adaptive planning Why other approaches are less effective: Measuring hours vs. estimates focuses on effort rather than value delivery and can lead to estimation gaming Tracking deployment ratios is a technical metric that doesn't necessarily correlate with business value or productivity Monitoring lines of code is a poor metric that can incentivize unnecessary complexity and doesn't reflect actual value or quality of work The best measure of productivity in DA is one that focuses on valuable outcomes delivered to stakeholders, which is precisely what tracking completed value-driven features accomplishes.