Unveiling the State of Agile Series Benchmarks: Navigating engineering excellence

The software delivery community has seen a surge in discussions about engineering metrics, particularly after the publication of influential works such as “Accelerate” and “Project to Product. The DORA metrics, Flow Framework, and SMART metrics have played important roles in continuous improvement initiatives. However, as advocates of engineering excellence, we recognise the need to broaden the conversation beyond these frameworks. While they are valuable, they can be limiting and may require a rigid approach for adoption, which can discourage engineers.

The software delivery community has seen a surge in discussions about engineering metrics, particularly after the publication of influential works such as “Accelerate” and “Project to Product. The DORA metrics, Flow Framework, and SMART metrics have played important roles in continuous improvement initiatives. However, as advocates of engineering excellence, we recognise the need to broaden the conversation beyond these frameworks. While they are valuable, they can be limiting and may require a rigid approach for adoption, which can discourage engineers.

Our new benchmark report, the “State of Agile Series Benchmarks,” aims not to replace established metrics but to broaden the dialogue. This guide serves as the inaugural chapter in a series focusing on how metrics not only gauge performance but foster self-reflection—a crucial element for sustainable continuous improvement.

The Plandek benchmarks are proven metrics designed to help organisations achieve various outcomes, including:

1. Delivering more predictably to meet commitments
2. Working in more efficient ways to expedite delivery
3. Maintaining and improving quality
4. Ensuring focus remains on the right priorities

Key benchmarks explored:

• Lead Time to Value
• Cycle Time
• Time to Merge PRs
• Sprint Target Completion
• Bug Resolution Time
• Story:Bug Ratio

The report will delve into each benchmark, providing insights into their significance and practical applications. Our goal is not to offer silver bullets but to deepen our understanding of how metrics drive behaviours, leading to sustained high performance, improved morale, and, ultimately, more productive engineering environments.

About Plandek

Plandek is an intelligent analytics and performance platform to help software delivery teams deliver valuable software faster and more predictably.

Plandek enables technology teams to track and drive their improvement and share understandable KPIs with stakeholders interested in accelerating value creation/ improving delivery efficiency.

Plandek works by mining data from delivery teams’ toolsets (such as issue tracking, code repos and CI/CD tools) to provide actionable and intelligent insight across the end-to-end software delivery process.

Plandek is recognised as a top global vendor in the DevOps Value Stream Management space by Gartner and Forrester and is used by private and public organisations globally to optimise their technology delivery and accelerate R&D ROI.

For more information, please visit www.plandek.com