Measuring team performance has become a popular topic recently, especially as many software companies aim to get more value from their employees. Market conditions are forcing management teams to stop hiring or even reduce the size of tech teams to meet expectations. This creates a lot of pressure on the existing teams, as they have to deliver the same results with fewer people.
This situation is tough for engineering managers. They have to manage smaller teams while dealing with developers who feel they have too much work. Many managers are now focusing on improving how fast and efficiently their teams can work. But where should they start?
Understanding Velocity
Velocity is often misunderstood as just the number of tasks (or story points) a team can complete in a set time. However, true velocity is about how quickly a team can deliver valuable work to production. This concept has three key parts:
- Speed
- Value
- Production
Each part is equally important for achieving good performance.
Speed
- Focus on Doing the Work: Many teams spend too much time planning and not enough time doing the work. Reducing planning time and focusing on execution can significantly improve speed. Developers need uninterrupted time to work, and too much planning can break their concentration and reduce their productivity.
- Keep Plans Simple: Plan just enough to understand what needs to be done. Smaller, clear plans help everyone stay on track and avoid confusion. Most times, work isn't done because the developer loses the goal from their sight.
- Break Down Tasks: If you can't finish a piece of work by the end of the day, it needs to be divided into smaller tasks. Smaller tasks help maintain focus, provide a sense of accomplishment, and boost team confidence. Literally, aim to release before end of the day.
- Avoid Overcomplicating: Some teams try to prepare for every possible future scenario, which can make their work overly complex and slow. Focus on current needs and handle future challenges as they come.
Value
- Deliver Small Improvements: Each piece of work should make a noticeable, positive change for the customer.
- Meaningful Task Breakdown: Make sure each task adds value on its own. If a task needs other tasks to be valuable, rethink how it's divided.
- Understand the Goal: Explain why the work is important and what benefits it aims to achieve. This helps the team find the best and most efficient way to complete the work.
Production
- Release to Production: Work isn’t done until it’s in production and users can interact with it.
- Make Releasing Easy: Simplify the process of releasing work to production. The goal is to release often and learn quickly from user feedback, which helps improve future work. If the release process is long and has many dependencies on others, like the pre-release-review process, long build times, etc., it will cause the team to release less willingly.
Measuring and Improving Performance
You can measure all these aspects using various metrics like DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA). However, what I believe is more powerful is regularly assessing these areas and discussing them with your team. Addressing these factors not only improves performance but also makes developers happier and more motivated.
Review and discuss the team's progress in these areas regularly. Identify any obstacles and work together to overcome them step by step. This approach can lead to significant improvements in team speed and overall satisfaction.
At AppUnite, we've seen firsthand how small, high-velocity teams can achieve remarkable results. In our recent projects, we've helped startups:
- Boost Login Success Rates: By focusing on user experience improvements, a small team delivered a 30% increase in successful logins in just a few weeks.
- Fix Mobile App Crashes: A dedicated team tackled critical issues for power users, improving app stability and user satisfaction significantly.
