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Review Metrics: What do you Quantify those metrics?

mmcisme1
Active Contributor

OK - somewhere around here is a brief list of what I do.  However it is missing the quantify.  This is not the first time I've been asked nor will it be the last time.   So how do you quantify what you do?

The first metric is easy - you think:
On time, under budget.

Really is it so easy?  There are a million and one things you are doing and that project gets stuck in the middle.  Sometimes it stays top priority.  Some times something on fire jumps above it.  So unless you plan on increasing the hours you work every week, that usually doesn't work.  If you are project manager on that team you have a bit more control.  You can advocate where your project fits and get stuff moved around so your resources stay your resources

Under budget:
Well I always take my estimates and double them.   Then I keep track of all the "little tweaks" people want to make on the way.   Then I let my project manager (if I have one - sometimes that's me) and my boss of what will be pushed out based upon these small changes.

Next metric:

Happy internal customers.

Oh boy, see the comment above.  Nine times out of ten they don't get everything in version 1.  And they are changing the way they do something.   Are they happy?  Usually not.  "The old way I did things was so much better"  - Yes, I hear that.

Metric:

Use something New - I learned this year:

I use something new that I learned that year.   Sure, I love this one.   I have to have a project that will allow me to use something new

I answer questions - support very quickly:

Again go back to one - It depends on where it falls.  I do let them know it's on the list.  

And the best Metric of all time:

Lines of code...   Number of programs...

Yes, I never use that one.

So do you have any suggests and/or not so great metric to add?  I'd love to see them.  It's probably going to take me to times past or future metrics.  My answer to every single one of these is that it depends.

 

8 REPLIES 8

matt
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

For code reviews the metric is "What the hecks* per minute".

* Other words may be substituted.

mmcisme1
Active Contributor

Laughing - I'm sitting here like a crazy person with no one here laugh.  I have had those days more than one time...   I think that should be my metric.

craigcmehil
Community Manager
Community Manager

When I took the dive away from code and into community back in 2005 I had to think of a whole new type of metric as there was no longer the ones similar to what you have. So my goto metric back then for me personally was the number of times I got a simple "thank you"



0 Kudos

I like that.   A "thank you".   The problem is I usually get thanked for the little things.  But my boss does thank me for the big ones.  Sooo...

Now we have a metric "Thank you" how did you quantify it.  20 "Thank you" message for above, 10 "Thank you" for average.  Anything under and you get below average.

Oh boy...  That could lead to me sending an e-mail out begging for "thank you" from people I helped.  😉

Don't get me wrong, we do need metrics to keep things trackable.  At least for me..  And it gets even more crazy when I'm wearing several different hats.

Some of my metrics are real metrics that are used, some are thrown out at the end of the year.  Some,  I had a hard time quantifying it:

Very little to no rework

This one I decided a long time not to use.  I have brought it back slightly as with a smaller firm I do a lot of the work.

  • Above average 2 or 3
  • Average would be 4 - 6
  • Below Average - 6 or more

That sounds good in theory.  In practice who is the cause for the rework?  The analyst - me most of the time so that would work, the quality test me + boss + end users.  Is it really rework if they want to add more features.   Last but not least - how big was the project?  How much control did I have?  Oh - I've got it blame the consultant.  NO, this time the consultant was very good.  I want him/her back if I can get them.  So a hard pass on that one.  (Unless it is really true)

SO I go round and round with that one.   But "thank you" e-mails I can save and count at the end of the year.

 

I took it a bit far to be honest, I had a ratio of thank you to complaints provided I was on the positive side I considered it a good day.



matt
Active Contributor

When I was a contractor, the most important metric was "Getting paid". 

craigcmehil
Community Manager
Community Manager

When I was younger that was a constant metric, I've noticed as I got older that was a bit less of a metric which is odd as my life got more expensive as I got older....



TammyPowlas
Active Contributor

For me some metrics include how many change requests I have worked, or number of support tickets I have handled.  But it really doesn't measure what I do in my opinion.