<aside> <img src="/icons/bookmark-outline_red.svg" alt="/icons/bookmark-outline_red.svg" width="40px" /> OUTLINE
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“Always deliver more than expected.” - Larry Page
As a CTO, you understand that the performance of your company's technology is paramount to its success. Mastering the art of tech performance allows you to unlock a world of possibilities and drive your organization forward. By optimizing your technology's efficiency, productivity, and quality, you can enhance customer satisfaction, reduce operational costs, and increase revenue.
This chapter will delve into the critical aspects of tech performance and provide practical guidance on achieving excellence, from setting measurable goals aligned with your business objectives to monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs).
As CTO, you are responsible for ensuring your company's technology performs to the best of its ability. Measuring tech performance is a crucial part of your job, as it allows you to identify strengths and weaknesses, make data-driven decisions, and optimize your company's technology to drive business success.
Before you can measure your tech performance, it's essential to understand what goals you want to achieve with your technology. Technology is a means to an end, not an end itself. Identify the business objectives you want to achieve with technology, such as improving customer satisfaction, reducing operational costs, or increasing revenue. Once your goals are identified, you can set measurable KPIs to track your progress toward achieving them.
“The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey
Here are the most commonly used KPIs for you to show off your tech organization's effectiveness, productivity, and quality.
[Lead Time]: A measure of the time from starting to finishing a work. It indicates the overall speed and efficiency of delivery. Lead time is a critical metric in manufacturing and supply chain management, as it helps identify inefficiencies in the production process. Businesses can improve their competitiveness by reducing lead times and better meeting customer demand.
Improving lead time requires a systematic approach that involves analyzing each step in the production process and identifying areas for improvement. This may include streamlining processes, reducing waste, and investing in new technology.
[Output]: Throughput is any organization's most important measure of efficiency and productivity. It is the rate at which work is completed within a given period relative to the number of people working. A high throughput indicates that an organization can complete a large amount of work quickly, which is essential for meeting deadlines and achieving business goals.
A high throughput also suggests that your team can scale its resources up or down efficiently, depending on the level of demand. This is particularly important in today's fast-paced business environment, where organizations must be able to respond quickly to changing market conditions. Organizations must monitor and improve their throughput to remain competitive and achieve long-term success.
[Completion]: The percentage of work completed within a sprint time box, such as two weeks. Indicates the team's ability to plan and deliver results within short cycles, a vital aspect of Agile methodology. This metric helps the team identify areas needing improvement or where they can be more efficient.
With a high sprint completion rate, the team can build trust with stakeholders and customers as they can reliably deliver on commitments promptly. Moreover, this metric promotes transparency and accountability within the group, providing them with a clear goal and helping them stay focused on delivering quality work.
[Velocity]: The work a team completes within a sprint. Sprint refers to the duration of a development cycle during which the team completes work. It indicates the team's ability to commit and deliver work within a given time frame. Velocity is often used to measure the team's productivity and efficiency.