What people get wrong about measuring engineering velocity:
Velocity metrics (lead time, cycle time) are not good performance metrics. They're good diagnostic metrics.
Every business and team wants to ship value to customers faster and more predictably. When people talk about engineering velocity, they usually mean, “How fast is work being done?" and "How do we make it go faster?”
Every team, service, and business is unique, so there are no standard benchmarks for velocity. When using metrics, it's crucial to understand their purpose and what you hope to achieve from measuring them.
Engineering metrics are helpful for 3 reasons:
1. They enable you to measure over time, allowing you to see progress and regressions.
2. They act as a “guardrail” to take action if things go off track.
3. They can inform decision-making around investments that lead to improvements.
Measuring is not helpful without action.
Metrics that aim to measure “velocity” are typically incomplete proxy indicators, so they should be treated with caution.
If a project takes a long time to complete, it might be because it’s a big, complex project that is supposed to take a long time. That’s perfectly OK. You must be careful when interpreting data.
You can't use velocity measures to compare teams since they are inaccurate and lead to incorrect assumptions.
Use velocity as a diagnostic metric to improve processes and remove bottlenecks, making stakeholders, customers, and engineers happier.
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✍️ What are your thoughts on engineering metrics like this?
