5 Agile metrics: Key for sprint success

Agile software development is not an easy methodology to adopt. There are lot of things which Agile demands and asks for faster execution and more micro level management .So traditional metrics which yields results in traditional software development may not be the best indicator .Agile development I would say more a mindset change rather than a methodological change .So the metrics which would help in defining the health of sprint are:-

1.Burndown chart:-Burndown chart is representation of amount of work completed across time.  It is useful for predicting when all of the work will be completed. It gives a predictability variant and indicates to scrum master about the progress of sprint. Normally work in agile is computed in form of story points

2.Capacity:-This is one of key metrics which needs to be computed in start of sprint and needs to be computed in planning ceremony of sprint.Based on the capacity scrum master and project teams discuss and take up the user stories for implementation.Let me give you an example of how capacity is calculated.

Imagine scrum team is of 5 team members and the sprint duration is of 2 weeks

Since 2 weeks so it would be 10 days .Working hours per day are 9 .Working hours per week would be 90

1.Actual working hours since there are 5 team members it would be=90*5=540 hrs per week

2.Daily scrum of 15 mins for 10 days for 5 team members =12.5 (0.25*10*5)hrs

3.Technical meetings and sprint ceremonies excluding daily scrum=20hrs

4.Any planned leaves & holidays (Ex :1.2 team members are going on 1 day leave)=18hrs

So Capacity of team is =540-(5+20+18)=497hrs.Based on the actual capacity team decides and takes user stories for completion of sprint. Available capacity is one of the key indicators for planning a sprint which is accurate and precise.

3.Work item count: This is typically the scrum board or Kanban board which projects the no of tasks,user stories which are in Open,In progress,Closed,Blocked and Resolved states. The states can vary across scrum teams but it is recommended to be kept simple .Various representations of work items can be added
Type of work item (Eg Defect,User story,Requirement etc)

    Count of work items with respect to status etc (CFD-Cummulative Flow Diagram)

4.Open Age and Cycle time : Open Age and Cycle time  are one of key metrics for maintenance and bug fixing projects. It can also be used in Agile projects for finding out the impediments and blockers.Ex imagine if in a scrum the user story is taking too long for closing then metrics like Open Age and Cycle tine  will help and give early indicator to scrum master about the work item may not be completed in that sprint .Cycle time and Open age has a direct connection to productivity. The shorter the cycle time, the more things are getting done in a given time box.

5.Defect Density:-Defect density is also one of key indicators for Agile development.Agile principle Comprehensive documentation over Detailed documentation actually stresses over quality rather than quantity.So reviewing of requirements,design by architect or senior person in team becomes key indicator for the quality of work.Defect density plays a pivotal role in identifying the same