What Are Agile KPI Metrics?

What Are Agile KPI Metrics?

KPI stands for key performance indicator. It is a means of measuring a team’s performance to ensure they are on track to hit their project objectives. KPIs are used in many departments, including finance, customer success, and marketing. 

So, what is KPI in Agile? It’s the same idea — an Agile team uses specific metrics to measure performance throughout each iteration or sprint. These indicators are used in strategic planning to guide the direction of the following iteration. 

As the name suggests, the world of Agile moves quickly. One of the core principles of the Agile Manifesto is that working software should be delivered frequently within a short timeframe. This fast-paced environment might suggest that Agile teams don’t have time to track KPIs as they work. However, this is not the case, as Agile professionals are also focused on continuous improvement. The incremental approach to producing deliverables means they aim to improve with each iteration. Agile KPI metrics are key to helping teams uplevel their performance and surpass previous efforts.

Why use Agile KPI metrics?

There are many ways in which Agile KPI metrics can benefit a project team. Let’s take a look at a few:

Progress tracking

First and foremost, KPIs help teams to effectively track a project’s ongoing progress. This means any potential obstacles can be spotted at an early stage and addressed before they escalate. This ties in with the adaptable nature of Agile, whereby teams pivot quickly and make changes to improve a project deliverable.

Decision making 

KPIs help leaders make decisions about a team’s workload. By using a KPI analytics tool, they can easily see if their team has the capacity to take on more user stories or if they should reduce the number for their next iteration. 

Insight creation

KPIs give valuable insight into how an Agile team works. They enable you to see at a glance which areas teams lag in and which ones they power through. By tracking KPIs with each iteration, you can also build up a solid bank of data, which will be particularly useful for employee performance reviews.

Agile KPI examples

What is a common KPI in Agile projects? Agile is frequently used in software development, so code-related KPIs, such as code churn and code coverage, are commonplace. Testing is also a key element in this field, so software developers often measure automated tests against manual tests.

Here are some other examples of Agile project management KPIs:

• Velocity: A measurement of how work can be completed in a sprint
• Sprint burndown chart: A graph that highlights much work is left to complete in a sprint
• Cumulative flow: A diagram that works with a Kanban board to help teams visualize task distribution at various project stages

Once you figure out which metrics would be suitable for your team, you can practice how to measure KPI in Agile for yourself.