Measuring and Monitoring Agile Development Status

Applying agile methods in large, and complex organizations requires effective status reporting to external stakeholders in order to facilitate communication, inspire confidence, and allow appropriate project steering. We defined a practical model for measuring and reporting the quality, progress, and predictions of agile development towards stakeholders that are not involved in the actual development activity. To design this metrics-based reporting model, we used the Goal-Question-Metric (GQM) approach to derive a set of 11 metrics from the goals of project owners. The selection of this perspective was part of the GQM process. The defined metrics in our model are measured using mostly product backlog data. We validated the reliability, usefulness, and feasibility of the model with a case study. We show the practical value of the individual metrics, and of the monitoring method as whole.