{"id":6496,"date":"2019-10-11T08:43:04","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T12:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/?p=6496"},"modified":"2019-10-11T08:43:04","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T12:43:04","slug":"faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books","title":{"rendered":"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books<\/strong><br \/>\nvia Scrum.org Blog by Stefan Wolpers<\/p>\n<h2>TL; DR: Faking Agile Metrics \u2014 An Eye-Opening Exercise<\/h2>\n<p>Imagine you\u2019re a Scrum Master and the line manager of your team believes that the best sign for a successful agile transformation is a steady increase in the Scrum Team\u2019s velocity. Moreover, if the team fails to deliver on that metric something is wrong with the Scrum Team. Alternatively, something is wrong with you as you are the Scrum Master and hence responsible for the team\u2019s performance. (Apparently, not faking agile metrics, or being transparent in this case, does not seem to be valued here.)<\/p>\n<p>Learn more about how to coach these kinds of line managers and help them overcome their preference for the industrial past with a simple exercise on how to cook the agile books.<\/p>\n<h2>Cooking the Agile Books \u2014 A Simple Exercise<\/h2>\n<p>The \u2018cooking the agile books\u2019 exercise about faking agile metrics is compelling yet straightforward and built on top of\u00a0<a title=\"Goodhart\u2019s law \u2014\u00a0Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Goodhart%27s_law\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Goodhart\u2019s law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Goodhart\u2019s law states that a metric ceases to be a useful metric once it becomes a target, for example, for a performance review, because participants figure out how to game the system.<\/p>\n<p>Velocity \u2014 the number of story points or items delivered by a development team during a Sprint or iteration \u2014 may be beneficial for a skilled, experienced team regarding projections. However, it turns into the opposite if unleashed upon a less experienced team for productivity reporting purposes by the management. Once the pressure is up, most development teams try to mitigate the pressure by becoming creative. The often observed\u00a0<a title=\"How to Prevent Estimate Inflation \u2014\u00a0Mike Cohn\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mountaingoatsoftware.com\/blog\/how-to-prevent-estimate-inflation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">estimate inflation<\/a>\u00a0is just one way of dealing with the problem from a team\u2019s perspective. Faking agile metrics can become significantly more subtle.<\/p>\n<p>However, there is a coaching approach that \u2014 in my experience \u2014 delivers results: run the cooking the agile books exercise and address the faking agile metrics elephant in the room head-on. Usually, I run the exercise with Scrum Masters so they know what to watch for, or with line managers who need information on how an agile transformation is doing. The exercise takes about 15 to 20 minutes and is an ideal candidate for the 1-2-4-All microstructure of Liberating Structures.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Agile Metrics \u2014 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly \u2014\u00a0Age-of-Product.com\" href=\"https:\/\/age-of-product.com\/agile-metrics-good-bad-ugly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Agile Metrics \u2014 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"The Strange Obsession with Velocity \u2014\u00a0Stefan Wolpers on LinkedIn\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:6582182742421708800\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Strange Obsession with Velocity<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scrum.org\/resources\/blog\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-agile-books\" target=\"_agileswag\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books via Scrum.org Blog by Stefan Wolpers TL; DR: Faking Agile Metrics \u2014 An Eye-Opening Exercise Imagine you\u2019re a Scrum Master and the line manager of your team believes that the best sign for a successful agile transformation is a steady increase in the Scrum Team\u2019s velocity. Moreover, [&#8230;]\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books - Agile Swag<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books via Scrum.org Blog by Stefan Wolpers TL; DR: Faking Agile Metrics \u2014 An Eye-Opening Exercise Imagine you\u2019re\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books - Agile Swag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books via Scrum.org Blog by Stefan Wolpers TL; DR: Faking Agile Metrics \u2014 An Eye-Opening Exercise Imagine you\u2019re\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Agile Swag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AgileSwag-403769110168476\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-11T12:43:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scrumorg-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/drupal\/inline-images\/Faking-Agile-Metrics-Berlin-Product-People-GmbH.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Agile Swag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scrumorg-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/drupal\/inline-images\/Faking-Agile-Metrics-Berlin-Product-People-GmbH.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SwagAgile\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SwagAgile\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Agile Swag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books\",\"name\":\"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books - Agile Swag\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/scrumorg-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/drupal\/inline-images\/Faking-Agile-Metrics-Berlin-Product-People-GmbH.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-11T12:43:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-10-11T12:43:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f267c6ff2ef9d32c9705e4a0d8110852\"},\"description\":\"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books via Scrum.org Blog by Stefan Wolpers TL; DR: Faking Agile Metrics \u2014 An Eye-Opening Exercise Imagine you\u2019re\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/scrumorg-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/drupal\/inline-images\/Faking-Agile-Metrics-Berlin-Product-People-GmbH.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/scrumorg-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/drupal\/inline-images\/Faking-Agile-Metrics-Berlin-Product-People-GmbH.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/\",\"name\":\"Agile Swag\",\"description\":\"Agile Swag\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f267c6ff2ef9d32c9705e4a0d8110852\",\"name\":\"Agile Swag\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/564feb1c28ca8a600ad013d6fadbed52?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/564feb1c28ca8a600ad013d6fadbed52?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Agile Swag\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books - Agile Swag","description":"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books via Scrum.org Blog by Stefan Wolpers TL; DR: Faking Agile Metrics \u2014 An Eye-Opening Exercise Imagine you\u2019re","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books - Agile Swag","og_description":"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books via Scrum.org Blog by Stefan Wolpers TL; DR: Faking Agile Metrics \u2014 An Eye-Opening Exercise Imagine you\u2019re","og_url":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books","og_site_name":"Agile Swag","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AgileSwag-403769110168476\/","article_published_time":"2019-10-11T12:43:04+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/scrumorg-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/drupal\/inline-images\/Faking-Agile-Metrics-Berlin-Product-People-GmbH.jpg"}],"author":"Agile Swag","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/scrumorg-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/drupal\/inline-images\/Faking-Agile-Metrics-Berlin-Product-People-GmbH.jpg","twitter_creator":"@SwagAgile","twitter_site":"@SwagAgile","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Agile Swag","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books","url":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books","name":"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books - Agile Swag","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scrumorg-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/drupal\/inline-images\/Faking-Agile-Metrics-Berlin-Product-People-GmbH.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-11T12:43:04+00:00","dateModified":"2019-10-11T12:43:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f267c6ff2ef9d32c9705e4a0d8110852"},"description":"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books via Scrum.org Blog by Stefan Wolpers TL; DR: Faking Agile Metrics \u2014 An Eye-Opening Exercise Imagine you\u2019re","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/scrumorg-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/drupal\/inline-images\/Faking-Agile-Metrics-Berlin-Product-People-GmbH.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scrumorg-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/drupal\/inline-images\/Faking-Agile-Metrics-Berlin-Product-People-GmbH.jpg","caption":"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/faking-agile-metrics-or-cooking-the-agile-books#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/","name":"Agile Swag","description":"Agile Swag","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f267c6ff2ef9d32c9705e4a0d8110852","name":"Agile Swag","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/564feb1c28ca8a600ad013d6fadbed52?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/564feb1c28ca8a600ad013d6fadbed52?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Agile Swag"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6496"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agileswag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}