Do we ship new features or resolve our tech debt in the coming half? Do we improve the reliability of our existing systems or invest in a net new tech stack in the coming year? Do we invest in hiring new people, or improve the productivity, engagement, and satisfaction of our existing teams?

If faced with any such situation, you’ll often find yourself leaning heavily on data and information - whether it is to make the right decisions, evaluate the various tradeoffs, or create the timely feedback loops. Metrics are the data-driven tool that will enable you and empower your teams to seek alignment, drive prioritization and focus, and provide the northstar for driving precision and impact. It is fundamental to nurturing individual motivation, enhancing engineering productivity, and leading high-performing teams.

In this talk, we’ll cover:

• Why do metrics matter, when are they useful (and when not)
• What are the different quantitative and qualitative metrics to design at the team, organization, and business level?
• How do metrics support every phase of the software development lifecycle, from planning, execution through delivery
• How to adopt, monitor, and evolve metrics within evolving systems, and create leverage at scale

As managers or senior leaders, this talk will give you a primer for leveraging metrics for the objectives you seek, outcomes you desire, and the behaviors you want to incentivize or disincentivize within your engineering organization.