Metrics have been a bit of a hot topic at work recently and having applied to be a part of Scrum Alliance’s team of experts for the new Metrics course they were putting together I thought I would write down some thoughts on what I was seeing in the metrics space. I began writing this post but it took more of a personal note as I was writing and I decided to go with it. I then wondered if I should actually post it at all. I got word back from Scrum Alliance today that I have been selected as part of the review panel which is exciting and it drew me back to this post again and whether I should publish it. Here goes……
Anyone who has worked with me will know how passionate I am about metrics as a Scrum Master and a Coach. I come from a time where we didn’t have Jira, VSO, AgilePlace and the likes. Everything was done via index cards and Excel Spreadsheets! This method, although time consuming taught me about trends in the charts, how to interpret them, when to ask questions or when to support the team if things seemed to be slowing or blocked.
Using the information in front of you and questioning when things don’t seem right is essential.
This came true for me in a personal sense last summer when I was pushing myself in my training. I would hit the gym before work, jump on the bike at lunch for some mental heart busting training programmes and then take the dog a long walk in the evening or go for a run. I was probably in the best shape that I had been for a while. I would keep an eye on key metrics such as heart rate, heart rate training bands, resting heart rate and HRV. I looked at these as if they were metrics that I would pull for my Scrum Teams. I looked for trends, areas of improvement and times where I had maybe been pushing too hard and needed to draw back a little as I was over committing.
The day before I went on holiday, out of the blue, I woke up to my Apple Watch telling me that my heart had been in an abnormal rhythm overnight. It stayed that way for the entire fortnight holiday and beyond. The metrics were showing that my heart was in a normal rhythm (Sinus Rhythm) throughout the day but as soon as I would drift off to sleep it would kick into AFIB and last until I woke up, sometimes it would be 12-14 hours per day. There were patterns, there were outliers but I was able to use the metrics available and the tools available (the ECG) to gain valuable data.
Just like in my Scrum Master days, the watch gave too much data. I was overloading myself with all different aspects that the health app could give me. I had to measure what was valuable and what really mattered. As a Scrum Master you need to decide with your team what matters, what is valuable and what helps improve your team. Too much data can lead to you focusing on the wrong things, the unimportant stuff that isn’t going to move the needle or drive the team forward. For me, too much data in this case overloaded me and I spent most of my holiday over analysing every symptom, every irregular beat and came home with a list of causes longer than my arm, most of which I never really knew where to start fixing.
Like a newbie Scrum Master, I took every ECG, every chart, symptoms, you name it, I had it and I made sure the Cardiologist had it. The surprising thing for me was he knew what mattered, what data to use to get to the right diagnosis and action. He measured what mattered. This is the skill that I try to install in my Scrum Masters. Measure what matters, it will help you help your teams to improve quickly without having to sift through a mound of data that you just don’t need.
For me, I am back in the inspect and adapt phase and measuring what matters as I try to get my fitness back to near where I was before this kicked off and try and manage AFIB as best as I can. I have good days and bad days but the drugs seem to be working but I am not pushing myself as hard as I used to just in case. I’ll be taking the data back in a few months and hopefully we can get a solid solution.
The Apple Watch is an awesome piece of kit, without it I would be lost.
Think what is important for your teams, how would you analyse the trends and use this with your team to drive improvements. What important health metrics are you tracking? Look after yourselves and your teams.
Daily Scrum 