DeveloperWeek Management 2024 + AI DevSummit 2024 (+ DW Europe/LATAM 2024)

Jim Grundner, Allstacks, Head of Engineering

Discussion around how to best measure developer productivity and efficiency continues to be a point of contention in the market, only superseded by those who question whether it’s possible to effectively measure developer productivity in the first place. Guess what – it is possible. High performing engineering teams embrace metrics to benchmark and improve success, and when they do, the results speak for themselves. However, the fear, uncertainty, and doubt around measuring developer productivity isn’t misplaced. Metrics and measurement often go hand in hand with bad management. It doesn't matter if you're managing a team, organization, or company, when management brings in KPIs, it can often feel like someone is trying to measure away a problem with the team or organization. However, KPIs shouldn't ever feel punitive and it’s up to us, as engineering leaders, to ensure they’re not. This talk will first cover how we arrived where we are today and what can be done to change that narrative. Then, we’ll talk about what metrics matter most, when to use them, and how to get the most out of your engineering data to maximize developer productivity the right way. Finally, we’ll go over how to help connect organizational goals to measurement in a way that helps everyone be more aligned.