Measure Anything: The Quality, Productivity, Predictability, and Engagement Model

Measuring software development is difficult. Measuring the return on investment (ROI) of complex initiatives (such as adopting agile) is even more difficult. One department at IBM struggled to reduce a list of 150 metrics down to a top twenty to use in consulting engagements. Through the years, nearly every one of Anthony Crain’s clients has asked him for help in proving that their teams were “getting better” at development. Nearly all of their measures were “adoption” measures showing how teams were doing agile. However, none of the metrics was focused on whether the development was getting better. Today, Anthony has it narrowed down to four measures that can be used for everything—Quality, Productivity, Predictability, and Engagement. Code named QPPE (pronounced kewpee), these measures work in every situation. When your teams agree to this single measurement framework, they can start running experiments to improve those measures. Anthony shares the definitions of these metrics and gives real examples—at the team, release, and portfolio level.