Webinar Recap: Metrics in the Brand New World of Programs an

March 3rd, 2020 by Thea Maisuradze

On February 18, 2020 Inflectra and Sriram Rajagopalan hosted a live webinar: Scream For Scrum or Scream At Scrum: What’s Going On?

If you missed the webinar, here is a recap of the webinar.

WEBINAR TAKEAWAYS:

Learn how to establish the value of metrics in the program and portfolio
Identify the most important principles around metrics
Choose the metrics that need to be in place for programs and portfolios
Apply and integrate metrics into agile and lean initiatives within programs.

The webinar recording is inside.

THEORY BEHIND THE WEBINAR:

Understand the Why behind the Metrics

We live in a word where there are so many metrics. Several months back, I published a blog article, “if data is the king, data analysis is the queen.” With Big Data and Internet of Things creating so much volume of data, it seems we jump into analyzing everything and reporting on many things. And, always remember Einstein when thinking of designing or developing metrics for programs and portfolios. Einstein said, “Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted, counts.”

So, it is critical to understand why we are measuring something instead of focusing on what we are measuring. Therefore, let us bring our memory back to what program and portfolio does. In the earlier webinars, we discussed the five critical Program Management knowledge areas such as strategy alignment, benefits management, stakeholder engagement, program governance, and program life cycle management. We also have discussed how portfolio management builds on these five knowledge areas with performance management and communication management.

Now, let us hold off for a few minutes and ask ourselves why we should measure these critical pillars. In the James Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies, there was a famous line that Elliot Carver, the villain of the movie says. “The key to a great story is not who, or what, or when, but why,!” However, frequently we rush to metrics. But, metric is sandwiched between two elements – the measure and the frequency.

Measures are different from Metrics

I am sure many of you may relate to the early morning rush to the commuter train. When people ask for metrics for evaluating the programs or portfolios, I am frequently reminded of this rush. As I mentioned, we need to understand how the metric that we are defining, and measuring will relate to the strategic alignment for the purpose for which the program or portfolio exists.

Portfolios, Programs, and projects exist to serve three important types of needs. First, it could be persuasive to tell that we should develop a product or retire a product based on market needs. Second, it could be informative for the stakeholders to tell how we are doing (more like the status quo). Finally, it could be exploratory emphasizing experiments or prototype development to solve a problem or need before it becomes a problem or need. Let us explore some metrics in these categories.