If the data items being collected do not obviously relate to the key success strategies for your business, you may be measuring the wrong things. If your managers are not obtaining the timely information they need to manage their projects and people, it’s time to reevaluate your metrics suite. Another symptom of this trap is that inappropriate surrogate measures are being used. One example is attempting to measure actual project work effort using an accounting system that insists upon 40 labor hours per week per employee.

Select measures that will help you steer your process improvement activities by showing whether process changes are having the desired impact. Suppose you’re trying to reduce the backlog of change requests. You could count the total number of requests submitted, the number open each week, and the average days each request is open. To evaluate your quality control processes, count the number of defects found in each test and peer review activity, as well as the defects that customers report. As you design the metrics program, build on what the individuals or project teams already are measuring.

Make sure you know who the audience is for the metrics data and ensure the metrics being collected will answer their questions. The goal-question-metric (GQM) approach described in Chapter 12 works well for selecting the metrics that will let you answer specific questions associated with defined organizational or project goals.