When managers don't know what's happening, they tend to tap shoulders with individuals and hold unnecessary meetings. Velocity enables you to break down silos and better understand the work on everyone's plate. This eliminates unwanted check-ins and allows you to provide assistance only when your team actually requires it.
Many of our customers have reported that using Velocity allows them to give their teams greater autonomy.
“Comprehensive visibility and insight into historical trends have been crucial to planning for the seasonal changes inherent to the health insurance industry.” read more from the VP of Engineering at HealthSherpa.
As the manager, it is in your best interest to foster a psychologically secure environment and dispel fears that metrics will be used to micromanage or spy on employees. This requires clear upfront communication as well as follow-through on properly using Velocity metrics and reports.
We recommend making an explicit commitment to the following:
Metrics should be used to supplement rather than replace conversations - Metrics should be used to supplement rather than replace conversations. Data is a great starting point for a conversation, but it does not tell the entire story. Velocity fosters deeper diagnosing and troubleshooting.
Interpret metrics as insights about the work rather than the person - Because engineering is a collaborative endeavor, no one should feel individually responsible for problems or negative trends. Maintain the focus on the work at hand so that your entire team can rally around progress.
Check your assumptions - Data allows you to conduct a fact-based, non-biased conversation based on a shared knowledge of how the metrics are used.