Master
ThoughtWorks
Menü
schließen
  • Unsere Services
    • Übersicht
    • Customer Experience, Produkt und Design
    • Data Strategy, Engineering und Analytics
    • Digitale Transformation und Operations
    • Enterprise Modernization, Plattformen und Cloud
  • Unsere Kunden
    • Übersicht
    • Automobil
    • Gesundheit
    • Öffentlicher Sektor
    • Clientech, Energie und Versorgung
    • Medien
    • Handel und E-Commerce
    • Banken und Versicherungen
    • Non-Profit
    • Reise und Transport
  • Insights
    • Übersicht
    • Unsere Empfehlungen

      • Technologie

        Ausführliche Betrachtungen neuer Technologien.

      • Business

        Aktuelle Business-Insights, Strategien und Impulse für digitale Querdenker.

      • Kultur

        Insights zu Karrieremöglichkeiten und unsere Sicht auf soziale Gerechtigkeit und Inklusivität.

    • Digitale Veröffentlichungen und Tools

      • Technology Radar

        Unser Leitfaden für aktuelle Technologietrends.

      • Perspectives

        Unsere Publikation für digitale Vordenker*innen

      • Digital Fluency Model

        Ein Modell zur Priorisierung digitaler Fähigkeiten, um für das Unvorhersehbare bereit zu sein.

      • Decoder

        Der Technology-Guide für Business Entscheider

    • Alle Insights

      • Artikel

        Expertenwissen für Ihr Unternehmen.

      • Blogs

        Persönliche Perspektiven von ThoughtWorkern aus aller Welt.

      • Bücher

        Stöbern Sie durch unsere umfangreiche Bibliothek.

      • Podcasts

        Spannende Gespräche über das Neueste aus Business und Technologie.

  • Karriere
    • Übersicht
    • Bewerbungsprozess

      Finde heraus, was dich in unserem Bewerbungsprozess erwartet.

    • Hochschulabsovent*innen und Quereinsteiger*innen

      Dein Einstieg in die IT-Welt.

    • Stellenangebote

      Finde offene Stellen in deiner Region.

    • In Kontakt bleiben

      Abonniere unsere monatlichen Updates.

  • Über uns
    • Übersicht
    • Unsere Mission
    • Awards und Auszeichnungen
    • Vielfalt, Gleichberechtigung, Inklusion
    • Management
    • Partnerschaften
    • Neuigkeiten
    • Konferenzen und Events
  • Kontakt
Germany | Deutsch
  • United States United States
    English
  • China China
    中文 | English
  • India India
    English
  • Canada Canada
    English
  • Singapore Singapore
    English
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom
    English
  • Australia Australia
    English
  • Germany Germany
    English | Deutsch
  • Brazil Brazil
    English | Português
  • Spain Spain
    English | Español
  • Global Global
    English
Blogs
Wählen Sie ein Thema
Alle Themen ansehenschließen
Technologie 
Agiles Projektmanagement Cloud Continuous Delivery  Data Science & Engineering Defending the Free Internet Evolutionäre Architekturen Experience Design IoT Sprachen, Tools & Frameworks Modernisierung bestehender Alt-Systeme Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence Microservices Plattformen Sicherheit Software Testing Technologiestrategie 
Geschäft 
Financial Services Global Health Innovation Retail  Transformation 
Karriere 
Karriere Hacks Diversity und Inclusion Social Change 
Blogs

Themen

Thema auswählen
  • Technologie
    Technologie
  • Technologie Überblick
  • Agiles Projektmanagement
  • Cloud
  • Continuous Delivery
  • Data Science & Engineering
  • Defending the Free Internet
  • Evolutionäre Architekturen
  • Experience Design
  • IoT
  • Sprachen, Tools & Frameworks
  • Modernisierung bestehender Alt-Systeme
  • Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence
  • Microservices
  • Plattformen
  • Sicherheit
  • Software Testing
  • Technologiestrategie
  • Geschäft
    Geschäft
  • Geschäft Überblick
  • Financial Services
  • Global Health
  • Innovation
  • Retail
  • Transformation
  • Karriere
    Karriere
  • Karriere Überblick
  • Karriere Hacks
  • Diversity und Inclusion
  • Social Change
Agiles ProjektmanagementTechnologie

[Book Review] Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability

Matt Philip Matt Philip

Published: Oct 14, 2015

Daniel Vacanti’s new book, Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability, is a welcome addition to the growing canon of thoughtful, experience-based writing on how to improve service delivery. It joins David Anderson’s (Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business) and Mike Burrows’s (Kanban from the Inside) books in my list of must-reads on the Kanban method as an alternative path to agility, complementing those works with deeper insight into how to use metrics to improve flow.

Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability

The book is a comprehensive action guide for knowledge-work organizations and teams looking to become more predictable. It focuses on what I often refer to as “second-generation” agile metrics -- cycle time, throughput and work-in-progress -- and shows how to use them effectively and make more informed decisions with them.

Daniel’s message about orienting metrics to promote predictable delivery and flow — which he defines as “the movement and delivery of customer value through a process” — is primarily grounded in his experience helping Siemens HS. He includes the case study (which has been published previously and is valuable reading in itself) at the end of the book and so keeps the rest of the book free from too many customer references, even while drawing on the pragmatic experience.

As someone who for several years has been helping teams and organizations improve using the metrics Daniel talks about, I learned a tremendous amount. One of the reasons is that Daniel is particularly keen to clarify language because it helps us carefully communicate these ideas to teams and management, some of whom may be using these metrics in suboptimal ways or, worse, perverting them so as to give them a bad name and undermine their value. Some examples: the nuanced difference between control charts and scatterplots and clear definitions on Little’s Law (and violations thereof), especially as related to projections and cumulative flow diagrams. I certainly gained a lot of new ideas, and Daniel’s explanations are so thorough that I suspect even novice coaches, managers, team leaders and team members won’t be overwhelmed. Daniel debunks several myths, which I appreciate, such as “work items need to be of the same size” and “kanban doesn’t have commitments.” He does so with clearly reasoned points that make them easy to convey to others. Finally, the book has a very helpful and clarifying discussion on classes of service, namely the difference between using CoS to commit to work (useful) and using it to prioritize committed work (hazardous for predictability).

As for weaknesses, I felt that the chapter on the Monte Carlo method lacked the same kind of depth as the other chapters. I came away wishing that Daniel had included some diagrams showing projections using percentiles from scatterplot data. But those are minor plaints for a book that constantly had me jotting notes in my “things to try” list.

Overall, I loved how Daniel pulled together (no pun intended), for the purpose of flow, several metrics and tools that have often been independently implemented and used and whose purpose— in my experience — was not completely understood. The book unifies these and helps the reader see the bigger picture of why to use them in a way I had not seen before. The book also provides a definitive and deep treatment of cumulative flow diagrams -- and how they provide a single view of the flow metrics of throughput, WIP and cycle time; the six properties of a CFD are both challenging and enlightening.

If you’re interested in putting concepts and tools like Little’s Law, cumulative flow diagrams, delivery-time scatterplots and pull policies into action, this book is for you.

I’ve already used it many times in trainings and in coaching to give teams a firmer grasp of how to move from traditional agile metrics like velocity to richer, more actionable metrics that point organizations and teams toward improvements and data-driven decision making to reduce risk, improve predictability and deliver better.

Master
Datenschutz | Modern Slavery statement | Barrierefreies Webdesign
Connect with us
×

WeChat

QR code to ThoughtWorks China WeChat subscription account
© 2021 ThoughtWorks, Inc.